>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Rick Rozoff) >Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 18:47:41 -0600 (CST) >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Euro-Army: To Strike From Balkans To Caucasus [STOPNATO.ORG.UK] > > >The Times (London) >TUESDAY NOVEMBER 21 2000 >EU Rapid Reaction Force Operations could stretch from Europe to the >Middle East >BY RICHARD BEESTON, DIPLOMATIC EDITOR >Areas of conflict >EU RAPID REACTION FORCE THE European Union's new military force could be >in heavy demand in conflicts stretching from the Balkans and Eastern >Europe to Africa and the Middle East. >The post-Cold War era has been littered with regional crises that >directly affect Western European interests. The challenges have, until >now, been met by individual countries acting alone, or with American >backing in a large Nato force. >Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, said yesterday that no geographical >limits had been put on the force, but that it would operate in Europe's >"back yard". >Colonel Terence Taylor, assistant director of the International >Institute for Strategic Studies, said that it was fairly clear where >trouble spots would arise. "The main area of operations will probably be >fairly close to home, like the Balkans and Mediterranean. >"At the bottom end of the scale, we could see operations like the one >led by the Italians to escort humanitarian aid to Albania, and at the >top end a full military intervention, such as the Nato force in Bosnia." >The force was designed because European states were unable to respond >decisively to the civil war in Bosnia. Britain, France and other states >sent troops as UN peacekeepers, but they could not stop the fighting, >which was halted only with the intervention of an American-led Nato >force. >The United States may prefer European states to defuse a second Balkans >crisis without assistance. At present, Britain and France maintain >separate military forces based largely in former colonial states. In >future an EU force could be called on to evacuate European nationals >from a country at war, as British troops did earlier this year in Sierra >Leone. >North Africa and the Middle East, arguably the least stable regions on >Europe's border, are other areas of concern. Any destabilisation in >North Africa leads to an increase of refugees in Spain, France and Italy >and it is in Europe's interests that the region is stable. >The Middle East offers bigger challenges. Although the US has >traditionally dominated the region, a European force, which has greater >sympathy in the Arab world, could help to keep the peace, as many >European troops do already under UN command in south Lebanon. >One of the big pitfalls facing the EU force involves future member >states that are involved in border disputes with their neighbours. >Cyprus, for instance, which is among the next group of countries to join >the EU, is locked into a territorial dispute with Turkey, a Nato member >whose forces control the northern half of the island. >Similar problems could arise in eastern Europe, where Estonia, another >likely EU member, has an ongoing dispute with Russia. As it expands >eastwards, the EU will confont many new areas of instability in the >former Soviet republics of Eastern Europe and in the Caucasus. > > >______________________________________________________________________ >To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for anti-imperialist news. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________________
