MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Andrei Fedyashin) - A strange thought comes to mind on the eve of the NATO summit in Strasbourg and Kehl on April 3-4: NATO should be very grateful that they are holding their jubilee summit after the G20 meeting in London. In the context of what was not achieved in London (and a great deal was not achieved there), the failures of the alliance's big gathering will look far less depressing.
If we ignore all the customary NATO jubilee toasts, and there will be a lot of them (the adherence to the fundamental principles of the bloc, NATO's future role in European- Atlantic cooperation, its reform and modernization, its services and achievements), then what is left is the actual issues on the agenda, which are difficult. They include NATO's strategy in Afghanistan, the status of and prospects for cooperation between NATO and Russia, and developing a new strategy for the alliance.
President Barack Obama made his first trip to Europe in order to discuss this. He called for a "new input" from Europe in the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Americans want their colleagues on the continent to agree to send 4,000 more soldiers and military equipment to Afghanistan. The whole issue is complicated by the fact that NATO has no strategy for action in Afghanistan, as America has not yet presented any such strategy. For the whole of March, the Americans and NATO leadership frantically tried to get out of the situation that had unfolded, and "beat" out of Europe at least some kind of agreement on new troops for Afghanistan, so that at least there will not be total embarrassment at the summit.
The relationship between Russia and NATO is directly linked to this. NATO understands that without cooperation with Russia, without Russia opening its overland routes and airspace to supply troops to Afghanistan there is no way a quick victory can be won. And counting on Russia's cooperation (incidentally, Russia was not even invited to the jubilee summit) is becoming more and more difficult. This is firstly because the bloc is not dropping its intention to continue enlargement, and secondly, because the U.S. is refusing to give up its plans to position its new missile defense system in Europe.
Quite incredibly, in the run-up to the jubilee summit, NATO still did not know who is going to be the bloc's new General Secretary. Usually these things are known months before the incumbent steps down. The delay in selecting the candidate for the new NATO political chief is very symptomatic of the bloc's main illnesses. It is trying to change from being a military alliance into a global military-political one, but just can't manage to coalesce under this new ideology. And the old thesis - or that of the 80s - lives on.
A week before the summit in Strasbourg and Kehl, the main candidate for the post was thought to be the Danish Prime Minister, the 56-year-old Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Rasmussen was backed by the European pillars of NATO: Britain, Germany, and France.
But Turkey opposed Rasmussen. The largest Muslim member of the bloc was very unhappy with the choice of a Danish man as candidate. This displeasure stemmed from the scandal that followed the publishing of cartoons in the Danish press featuring the Prophet Mohammed, in 2005. Then and now Rasmussen declines to condemn the Danish newspapers. The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that Muslim countries (he did not say which) had asked him to veto Rasmussen's appointment, which as part of the customary NATO procedure, is confirmed by consensus.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
