Europe Offers U.S. An Exit From Kosovo . . . Now What?

Foreign Affairs Extended News Opinion (Published) Keywords: KOSOVO Source: stratfor

http://www.stratfor.com/CIS/commentary/c0002012316.htm

2316 GMT, 000201  Europe Offers U.S. an Exit from Kosovo  Now What?

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) announced Jan. 22 that Eurocorps, a five-nation European military organization, will head the Kosovo International Security Force (KFOR) for a six-month period. Although Eurocorps officials in Strasbourg, France, were quick to point out that Eurocorps has always been available for NATO missions, this is the first instance in which a non-NATO entity has been selected to lead a NATO operation. It marks a significant step in a larger process that could change the dynamics of not only the American-dominated alliance but also U.S. involvement in ongoing Balkan peacekeeping missions.

More than 350 personnel from the five Eurocorps countries  Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain  are set to take full command of the 50,000-strong KFOR force in April 2000. Even though the headquarters unit must be augmented by troops from other NATO units, this signifies a major political victory in the European effort to develop its own military capability. Eurocorps might very well form the basis for such a force.

Though multinational European defense structures have existed since World War II, they were mostly geared to fight large land battles across Europe. Since Kosovo, much more attention has been paid to Europes ability to project forces independently of support from the United States. The former British Defense Secretary George Robertson, now NATO secretary-general, blasted European countries for having some 1.9 million personnel under arms, but being unable to deploy so much as 2 percent of that force to Kosovo. Heeding Robertsons calls, in December 1999, at their summit in Helsinki, Finland, the European Union (EU) called for the creation of an independent European defense identity  initially within NATO  able to operate when NATO chooses not to intervene. ...... My my..just when ya thought it was OK to go out and play. The last phrase above is intriguing. Is something coming out of the grave?

-- mush (mush@psicorps.com), February 02, 2000

Answers

Oops..formating

Separate my comment:

My my..just when ya thought it was OK to go out and play. The last phrase above is intriguing. Is something coming out of the grave?

-- mush (mush@psicorps.com), February 02, 2000.

We could act with UN agreement. We can act without UN agreement, but with NATO support. Apparently, the Europeans want to be able to act without UN or NATO support...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), February 02, 2000.

WHY would this surprise ANYONE???

These folks wrote the BOOK on manifest destiny.

Not a surprise in MY house

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), February 02, 2000.

Kosovo is to Yugoslavia as Chechnya is to Russia as Taiwan is to China.

It look slike the Eurocorps want to draw the line to keep from being sucked into a much larger conflict.

-- Bill P (porterwn@one.net), February 02, 2000.

Take note the attitude of Europe towards the United States. A trade war is threatened over meat shipped overseas. Foreign ministers are meeting in approximately two weeks to determine sanctions against the U.S. Haider of Austria is a Nazi sympathizer and Italy is clamping down on racist banners at sporting events due to the increased anti-foreign sentiment. Fears in Europe are that fascism will feed on itself due to a different generation that has forgotten the atrocities of Hitler. By Europe allowing the U.S. to exit it gives them an open window to dominate the Balkans.

Of course the media in the U.S. is domesticated and concentrates so much on Elian Gonzalez and political primaries. We are neglecting issues such as Europe, Russia and China and becoming more and more inward. Too many in this present generation of the U.S. do not realize that history repeats itself because we have not learned from the past. Our mistake is that we feel we are advanced to the point of not repeating events that happened decades ago. This is an oversight that will haunt us.

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-- Richard Markland (newsman@bright.net), February 02, 2000.