Nato launches process toward new strategic concept
A July 7 seminar among Nato military, political and academic experts here began shaping a new strategic concept the alliance wants to finalize by its next summit, likely in late 2010 or early 2011, a Nato source said.
The new concept, to be drafted by 12 members of an alliance strategic concept committee, will replace the 1999 document and be taken forward by incoming Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Issues such as energy security, proliferation, cyberdefense and terrorism are expected to be covered.
In his closing address at the seminar, outgoing Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Nato can no longer function without broad political, parliamentary and public support to provide an adequate budget, and stressed that Nato must be selective and not try to do everything.
Earlier, in his opening address, he argued that Nato and the European Union must more effectively combine their complementary assets, and that the new concept should produce a policy blueprint to strengthen the Nato-EU relationship and generate the political will to make it happen.
Later, in a press conference, he said that he was not among those who believed Nato should focus only on hard power and the European Union on soft power; the union should also work at the hard end of the spectrum, he said.
He described Nato-Russia relations as one of the most delicate but important debating topics for the new concept. The Nato-Russia Council needs to become not just a body to articulate common differences but also common interests, and to keep relations on an even keel.
He also said Nato must take a more common approach when acquiring capabilities such as transport aircraft, helicopters, or intelligence or reconnaissance assets, or broaden the scope of the common funding for operations.
De Hoop Scheffer also said he hoped the new concept would finally lay to rest the notion that there is any distinction between security at home and security abroad. Article 5 can apply outside Nato territory as much as inside. Today, the challenge is not just to defend allied territory but its populations, he said, and they, unlike territory, move around.
He also argued that Nato will need to do a better job of avoiding crises and interventions where it can. In connection with that, World Food Programme Executive Director Josette Sheeran said that food security should be part of the concept.
Hunger hotspots must be identified early on, she said, because when people are cut off from food, they migrate, revolt or die. Nato could be helpful in calling for pre-emptive action, she added.
Her spokesperson, Emilia Casella, pointed to the large number of riots that have occurred in many countries in 2008 because of high food prices.
Source: www.defensenews.com
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