NATO considers permanent force for eastern Europe

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NATO urges Ukraine military reform despite crisis
NATO nations urged Ukraine Friday to keep up the pace of military reform needed to join their alliance despite being badly hit by the global economic downturn. "Allies are aware that the financial and economic crisis that has also hit Ukraine very hard is having an effect on Ukrainian reforms," NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said after defence ministers' talks in Poland. "Ministers encouraged Ukraine to keep up the effort including with the necessary resources, difficult as that may be, because an inefficient and antiquated defence and security sector will cost Ukraine much more in the long run," he told reporters. "Times are dire in this regard, nevertheless it is important to continue," Scheffer said after the meeting in Krakow, which involved talks with Ukrainian Defence Minister Yuri Yekhanurov. Ukraine is striving to join NATO -- a move its public largely disapproves of -- but has been particularly badly hit by the global economic crisis. The former Soviet republic's crucial steel sector has suffered from a sharp slowdown in global demand for the metal, its banks have been struck by the credit crunch and its currency has halved in value against the dollar. The IMF in November granted Ukraine a 16.4-billion-dollar loan but a second tranche of the loan worth 1.9 billion dollars has been held up amid political infighting in Ukraine that led to the finance minister's resignation last week.

by Staff Writers
Krakow, Poland (AFP) Feb 20, 2009
NATO is examining whether to set up a permanent military force in eastern Europe to encourage regional allies to send combat troops to Afghanistan, the alliance's top civilian official said Friday.

The idea, proposed by Britain to ease concerns in eastern Europe about Russian belligerence since its war with Georgia, would see 3,000 troops drawn from the NATO Response Force, a contingent for use in the world's hotspots.

"I got a positive reception from many around the table on this idea," NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters in Krakow, southern Poland, after informal talks between allied defence ministers.

He said that top alliance commander US General John Craddock "will now elaborate ideas on the NATO Response Force in conjunction with this solidarity force."

Scheffer said he hoped that the ministers would be able to take decisions on the force when they next meet formally in Brussels in June.

In the Financial Times newspaper, British Defence Secretary John Hutton said the move could persuade nations to send troops to Afghanistan, by offering them assurances that there were enough troops to defend alliance territory.

"I hope it might make it easier for NATO to do more in Afghanistan, certain now in the knowledge that there is a dedicated homeland security force that will have no other call on its priorities than European homeland security," he said.

He said the proposal could resolve the long-running debate about the rarely-used NATO Response Force (NRF), which is meant to involve some 25,000 troops but exists largely only on paper.

Plans to deploy the NRF had stalled because NATO members could not agree whether it should be for homeland security or take a more active role, he said.

"It's just not acceptable to go on having endless debates about the NRF without making progress on it," he said.

Britain's idea was floated just as the United States announced that it would send some 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan, where NATO is struggling to cope with a Taliban-led insurgency.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged the 26-nation military bloc Friday to make more civilian and troop commitments ahead of key elections in Afghanistan on August 20.

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Analysis: European defense contracts

Brussels (UPI) Jan 26, 2009
French arms exports soared by almost 15 percent in 2008, the French government announced earlier this month. France hopes to further boost its international arms exports by finally creating overseas demand for its long-criticized Rafale fighter jet, manufactured by Dassault.

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