The Riga summit demonstrated a degree of Atlantic Alliance confusion that has increased since February, mainly because of Mr Putin’s attitude. Nonetheless, the NATO mechanism has continued to work, whether it is a matter of operations or of other issues. The question of France’s relationship with NATO has evidently been affected by the spring election results, even if that is still not very obvious. But the main issue remains Afghanistan: the transformation of the Alliance is actually taking place there.
NATO, November 2006 to August 2007
In the Balkans, change was more political than operational. Indeed, UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s report was made public on 26 January. He suggests a multiethnic society with its own constitution and membership of the UN. The continuance of (EU) international supervision and a (NATO) military force guaranteeing the protection of the rights of the minorities: it’s a ‘Canada Dry’ type of independence that has all the features except for the actual word, which is therefore never mentioned.
The draft has been well received by the Allies. Nevertheless, certain Europeans are very restrained, even if they don’t oppose the report: these are Greece (Orthodox solidarity and Turkish Cypriots), Spain (Catalonia and the Basque region), Slovakia (Hungarian minority) and Romania.
KFOR has confirmed that it will keep its 16,500 soldiers in place until at least 2008, despite the slow and continuous evaporation of manpower. The military considers that the Kosovo Albanian troops are under control. But the planning of the next phase of the operation plan (the ‘deterrent presence’ that will permit a reduction of deployed manpower) is delayed.
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