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501. Azerbaijan: Defence Sector Management and Reform - Europe Briefing N°50

Publication Date:
10-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Azerbaijan wants to create a strong army to regain Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts, either by improving its negotiating leverage with Armenia or going back to war. It has exponentially increased its military budget, though it has not so far gained clear superiority over Armenian forces. If the new military is to be not only stronger but also better governed, however, it needs deep reforms to make it less corrupt and personality driven, more transparent and better directed. So far there has been insufficient political will either to do the part that should involve increasing democratic and civilian control or to break the habit of treating the army as above all an instrument with which to protect elite interests.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, and NATO
Political Geography:
Asia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan

502. North Caucasus Weekly: Ingushetia's Parliament Confirms New Presiden

Publication Date:
11-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:
Ingushetia's parliament on October 31 confirmed Yunus-Bek Yevkurov as the republic's president, replacing Murat Zyazikov, who resigned the previous day (North Caucasus Weekly, October 31). According to Itar-Tass, 16 legislators out of the 18 who attended the session voted to confirm the 45-year-old colonel, while one voted against and one ballot was invalidated. The news agency reported that Yevkurov was born into an ethnic Ingush family in North Ossetia and graduated from the Ryazan Higher School of Airborne Troops in 1989. In 2004, he graduated from the Academy of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, Russia's highest military education institution. In 1999, Yevkurov commanded a unit of Russian paratroopers that entered Kosovo and took control of the international airport ahead of the forces of other countries. As the Moscow Times wrote on November 1, Russian media reported that Yevkurov led the 200-man contingent that caught NATO off guard by racing from Bosnia to Kosovo to occupy the airport in Kosovo's capital of Pristina, an operation at the end of the Kosovo war that “risked a dangerous confrontation with NATO troops, who were also heading to the airport.” According to the English-language newspaper, it was later revealed that an armed clash was only averted because the local NATO commander, British General Michael Jackson, refused to be involved in a conflict that could “start World War III.” However, Itar-Tass, in its description of the incident, wrote that the Russian race to occupy the airport in Pristina “went down in the history of the Russian Airborne Troops as one of the most successful peacekeeping operations.”
Topic:
Security, NATO, and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Bosnia, Asia, and Kosovo

503. SLOVAKIA AND HUNGARY: WHAT CAN BE DONE FOR THE WESTERN BALKANS?

Author:
Imre Szilágyi
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Issues: Slovak Foreign Policy Affairs
Institution:
Slovak Foreign Policy Association
Abstract:
The author argues that during the period of the second Gyurcsánygovernment Hungary continued its previous policies vis-à-vis the Western Balkans and managed to preserve good relations with all of the countries of the region. He reflects on the government's policies with respect to the entire Western Balkans – more precisely the countries of the former Yugoslavia, except Slovenia – as well as its guiding principles and activities supporting the Euro-Atlantic integration of the region; policies vis-à-vis the individual countries; efforts to improve the situation of the minorities and the enhancement of the Hungarian economic role in the region. He concludes that due to the fact that the greatest aspiration of Western Balkan countries is to join the Euro-Atlantic integration processes and because Hungary – as an EU and NATO member state – is an important partner country in regional relations will ostensibly become more dynamic in the years to come.
Topic:
NATO
Political Geography:
Yugoslavia, Balkans, Hungary, and Slovenia

504. Approaching or Avoiding Cooperative Security? The Western Balkans in the Aftermath of the Kosovo Settlement Proposal and the Riga Summit 14thWorkshop of the Study Group „Regional Stability in South East Europe”

Author:
Dennis J.D. Sandole, Predrag Jureković, Ernst M. Felberbauer, Franz-Lothar Altmann, Jolyon Naegele, Amadeo Watkins, Sandro Knezović, Plamen Pantev, Dušan Janjić, Matthew Rhodes, Sonja Biserko, Nina Dobrković, John F. Erath, Dragana Klincov, Lulzim Peci, Denisa Saraljić-Maglić, Heinz Vetschera, and Frederic Labarre
Publication Date:
09-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Austrian National Defence Academy
Abstract:
In this article, I examine the prospects and challenges for co-operative security in the Balkans in the wake of recommendations for Kosovo's final status offered recently to the UN Security Council by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari. On the assumption that Ahtisaari's proposals represent a zero-sum gain for the Kosovar Albanians and corresponding loss for the Serbs, I recommend a reframing of his plan that may be more likely to lead to sustainable peace, security, and stability in the Balkans, with implications for similar conflicts elsewhere.
Topic:
NATO, Democratization, Development, Regional Cooperation, and International Security
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, United Nations, and Balkans

505. Testimony for Mr. Daniel Fata, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO U.S. House of Representatives House Committee on Foreign Affairs

Author:
Daniel Fata
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
What follows is the text of the testimony by Daniel Fata, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO on March 15, 2007.
Topic:
NATO
Political Geography:
Europe

506. Security Structure of the Black Sea Region in the Context of New Challenges

Author:
Selcuk Colakoglu
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
This paper aims at investigating the security environment of the Black Sea region. It firstly reviews regional organizations and their security agendas. The Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) is the most organized and largest regional organization in the region. Non-regional organization, namely NATO and the EU, both of which pursue their respective security agendas in the Black Sea region will be dealt with afterwards. NATO has its own policy of penetration toward the Black Sea region. The EU is the dominant economic and political organization which also aims to enlarge in the Black Sea region. Finally, the security environment of the Black Sea region will be examined in view of the BSEC, NATO and EU.
Topic:
Security and NATO
Political Geography:
Europe

507. Cultural Challenges in Military Operations

Author:
Tibor Szvircsev Tresch and Cees M. Coops
Publication Date:
10-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
On 15 and 16 March 2007 a conference was held at the NATO Defense College on the topic of “Cultural Challenges in Military Operations”. It offered a preliminary overview of the operational and multicultural challenges of cooperation among different forces with NGOs, IOs and the local population in theatres.
Topic:
Defense Policy, NATO, International Cooperation, and International Security
Political Geography:
Middle East and Yugoslavia

508. L'operation Active Endeavour et son impact sur le Dialogue méditerranéen de l'OTAN

Author:
Rachid Houdaïgui
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
Les attentats du 11 septembre 2001 ont profondément transformé la perception de la menace terroriste dans le monde et le rôle des Etats et des organisations internationales dans la lutte contre celle-ci. La réponse de l'Organisation du Traité de Atlantique Nord (OTAN) a été immédiate et ferme. Le 12 septembre, elle a invoqué, pour la première fois dans son histoire, la clause de défense collective relevant de l'article 5 du Traité de Washington, qui se traduira en pratique, quelques jours plus tard, par le lancement de huit mesures visant à soutenir les Etats-Unis. L'une de ces mesures consiste à déployer des unités des forces navales permanentes en Méditerranée orientale. Le 26 octobre 2001, est lancée l'Opération Active Endeavour (OAE), première et unique opération maritime de lutte contre le terrorisme menée sous l'égide de l'OTAN. Entre 2001 et 2006, l'OAE a vu son champ d'action s'élargir de la sous-région orientale à l'ensemble de la Méditerranée. Le Sommet de l'OTAN à Istanbul en juin 2004, a redimensionné l'OAE en invitant les partenaires1 de l'Alliance à y contribuer. Depuis lors, une dizaine d'Etats du Partenariat pour la paix (PPP) et du Dialogue méditerranéen (DM) ont répondu favorablement à cette invitation: la Russie, l'Ukraine et Israël sont dans une phase d'intégration très avancée; le Maroc, l'Algérie, la Croatie, la Géorgie et la Suède en sont à la phase de négociation intermédiaire.
Topic:
NATO and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe

509. NATO and the Future of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

Author:
Joseph F. Pilat and David S. Yost
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
The participants agreed that the NPT is under challenge. Since the late 1990s, there has been growing concern about increasing proliferation dangers, including rogue states and terrorists; cooperation on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) among rogue states; technology diffusion via the Internet as well as through “loose nukes,” materials leakage and brain drain from former Soviet republics, Pakistan and other states and through non-state actors like the A. Q. Khan network; and problems with export controls. The prospects of radiological or nuclear terrorism are seen to be rising; and concern over a proliferation/terrorism nexus after 9/11 has never been higher.
Topic:
Security, NATO, International Cooperation, and Nuclear Weapons

510. Divergences entre Israël et les pays européens de l'OTAN sur la sécurité durable de l'Etat d'Israël

Author:
Ilan Greilsammer
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
NATO Defense College
Abstract:
Au départ de cette recherche il y a une constatation: l'importance des divergences entre Israël et les pays européens de l'OTAN, concernant les solutions durables au conflit israélo-arabe, et concernant la sécurité d'Israël.
Topic:
Security, NATO, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Middle East and Israel