Azerbaijan, Baku, 17 June / Trend corr. E.Triverdiyeva / International experts consider utopian the idea regarding the new project to provide security in Europe, which was recently proposed by the Russian President Dmitri Medvedev as regard to the recognition of NATO as an incapable organization.
"Regardless what Medvedev truly thinks, the strategic assessment of NATO is necessary for the future of European Security," Tomoyuki Hashimoto, European expert on security, stated
During his recent visit to Germany, an idea to hold a common European summit and to work out a new juridical obligatory treaty on European security was proposed by the President Medvedev of Russia. According to Medevedev, NATO does not solve the problems regarding the European security and there is no guarantee that the North Atlantic Alliance will not extend its military tasks in Europe.
"I doubt that the security system in Europe is universal. As for NATO, I believe that this organization will not solve the security issue in Europe," Medvedev said answering to the questions of the World Congress of Russian Press representatives.
Yap de Hoon Sheffer, NATO Secretary of General, does not agree with the idea of the Russian President Dmitri Medvedev regarding the role of the North Atlantic alliance to provide security to the European Contingent. "I do not agree with this critical estimation, it has not been approved," Sheffer stated in the final of the meeting of the Defence Ministers of Russian Council -NATO in Brussels.
Considering the
diplomatic exchanges over the possible NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine, denouncing NATO can be a part of Medvedev's political gesture.
"First of all, the idea of "European Army"
is going nowhere. Of course, each European national army has the higher
standard than most of armies in the world. Yet, such a conventional/traditional
assessment of warfare is no longer useful as any individuals can create a new
type of security menace. The so-called "War on Terrorism" especially
becomes problematic because one of the prevention tasks is to watch each
citizen's daily activities," Hashimoto, specialist on NATO World
International Sciences Association, said via e-mail on 17 June. Furthermore, political preference on national sovereignty
over the super-national European control makes this process of the European
Army creation harder, Hashimoto stated.
According to Hashimoto, in this regard, NATO surely is able to fulfill the security vacuum in Europe. Its strategic assets including intelligence gathering are vital for European security today. Thus, the European Union as well as the Western European Union seeks for complying with NATO vision of European security.
The similar argument can be made for NATO: NATO is an organization prepared for traditional warfare. Either the Cold War or the Gulf War, NATO missions almost always have been conventional with a risk of nuclear warfare. NATO may not be prepared to fight against terrorism and may not be able to solve the problems of European security as Medvedev commented. Yet, it does not mean other countries or organizations have greater capacity on this issue.
After all, NATO has a worldwide network of supply, human resources, and intelligence. Its network stretches even beyond the sky into the outer space. If NATO views the world like twenty years ago, it will not solve new European problems, but it has capacity to do so. NATO needs to transform into a more universal organization whose understanding of the world and warfare is open politically, economically, militarily, and even anthropologically.
According to Kamil Zwolski, a researcher and teacher at the University of Salford, United Kingdom, it was not the best time for the Russian President to suggest that all European countries should work out a new treaty on European security, because NATO alone is not sufficient to handle the task..
"Medvedev's speech was given shortly before the referendum in Ireland, where the vast majority rejected the Lisbon Treaty, reforming the institutions of the European Union. In the forthcoming months the EU will focus its efforts on solving the crisis of its identity and the foundations of its existence," Zwolski, the researcher in the sphere of European Union and International Security in the Salford University (United Kingdom) stated via e-mail to Trend on 17 June. .
The Russian President creates an ambiguous framework for the cooperation with the new US President, which will be elected in November. Medvedev on the one hand says: yes, we want to cooperate with the new US Administration. Yet on the other hand he demands that the new President changes the US policy in Europe completely and de facto suggests that the US presence in Europe is not necessary at all.
As to the Russian President's idea itself, it is already acknowledged in Europe, that the security challenges of the 21st century are broad and demand multilateral responses. This fact was already reflected in the European Security Strategy from 2003 and most probably will be even more emphasized in the revised version of this document in the end of 2008.
One of the most urgent security challenges for Europe in the foreseeable future will be securing the stable access to the energy resources. This is also the area where Russia's policy plays the vital role. Medvedev's first foreign visit was to Kazakhstan and there was a good reason for it: Astana is a crucial link in the Moscow's strategy to dominate the Caspian Basin energy resources. At the same time, however, the EU (and the US) is pressing Caucasus countries to proceed with the Trans-Caspian pipeline project, which would further diversify energy supplies for Europe, limiting Russia's importance. In June 2008 the EU and Turkmenistan signed a "memorandum of understanding" on energy, which the EU hopes will in the future evolve into the more legally-binding arrangements, Zwolski said.
In June 2008, EU and Turkmenistan signed a Memorandum on mutual understanding on the energy issues, which the EU hopes to make more juridical supported treaty in the future.
Already in 2007, the controversy was triggered by Russians planting their flag under the North Pole. The EU acknowledged at the European Council Summit in Brussels in March 2008, that melting of the polar ice caps, uncovering an access to the large resources of hydrocarbon, can further accelerate the competition over the energy resources.
The idea of creating the security pact
encompassing all European countries and Russia is very noble in principle
because it is always better in international politics when states cooperate in
security matters rather than compete. However, taking into account the Russian
geopolitics and the European understanding of the contemporary security
challenges, such an idea is very unlikely to materialise in the years to come.
NATO bloc was founded on the ground of the North Atlantic treaty, which was signed in Washington on 4 April 1949. In 2007, NATO united 26 states.
The correspondent can be contacted at:[email protected]