New Challenges for the German Security Policy - IFSH

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towards these countries. As the name implies, the Mediterranean Dialogue offers a dialogue to countries adjoining or close to the Med. Presently there are seven members, from Morocco and Mauritania in the West via Algeria and Tunisia to Egypt, Jordan and Israel in the East. The aim is to prevent misunderstanding of NATO´s politics, procedures and military interests. At the same time NATO-Alliance leaders decided to reach out to the broader region of the Middle East through the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative , by promoting practical bilateral cooperation with interested countries of the region, starting with countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), i.e. Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Both the Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative are open to all interested countries that share common values with NATO (e.g. humanitarian rights and democracy). Mr. Bin gave a few examples for cooperation between NATO and its partners, e.g. disaster management, air traffic management, public diplomacy and defense reforms, before he offered the students an opportunity to launch their questions. Frank Reininghaus Briefing and Discussion: Political Transformation of NATO, NATO Headquarters, Brussels Mr. Michael Rühle, Head, Policy Planning & Speechwriting Section, Political Affairs and Security Policy Division April, 27, 2006 Mr. Rühle started his briefing with the affirmation that NATO is about to overcome its Eurocentrism and to become a more functional defined organization. This will mean to complement its military transformation with a decisive move towards a more frequent and frank political debate. That NATO has to become more political is seen as a lesson learned from the Iraq controversy in spring 2003. The most severe breakdown of the transatlantic consensus and the deepest crisis in NATO’s recent history was not caused by a lack of collective military power, but by fundamental political difference over its use. Against this background, Mr. Rühle named three dimension of NATO’s political transformation. On the first hand, the NATO has to become a forum for a broader strategic debate, a forum in which the Allies shape common perspectives and approaches to wider issues. According to Mr. Rühle, a so called “culture of debate” has emerged in the last two years. Examples like, NATO’s decision to support the African Union’s peacekeeping mission in Darfur, or to provide humanitarian relief to the victims of the earthquake in Pakistan, showed how quickly a seemingly distant issue can become relevant to the Alliance. Informal meetings, like NATO Foreign Minister meeting in Sofia, 27-28 April 2006, are seen as “building blocks” for NATO Summits. Furthermore, the nature of the NATO’s current mission and future military operations require NATO to seek a closer cooperation with other international institutions (European Union, United Nations) as well as NGOs, in order to articulate a political strategy that shapes the context in which it operates military and to avoid a so called “mission creep”. The riots in Kosovo in spring 2004 were a stark reminder of how quickly NATO troops can become hostage in unresolved political issues. According to Mr. Rühle a third reason for a more political NATO stemmed from the changing institutional setting, and particularly, the European Union’s emergence as an independent military actor. A pragmatic strategic partnership between NATO and the European Union and a more structured relationship with the United Nations will help to avoid rivalries and competition in this complex security setting. However, NATO is already emerging as a major enabler of the United Nations. Despite the risk, that dialogue does not always facilitate consensus, but deepens existing rifts, Mr.Rühle said, there was not a real alternative to a more political NATO, even if this is a very sensitive and difficult issue. He concluded with the wish that “the end of discussion will not be victory, but enlightenment” and a more functional defined Alliance with global partners. Teodora Vrancean, Nodira Inoyatova, Frank Reininghaus 14
NATO Joint Force Command, Brunssum, Netherlands April 27, 2006 The Joint Force Command (JFC) in Brunssum, Netherlands is the subdivision of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, which was previously (1962) answerable for the defence planning and was located in France. The massive placing of the nuclear assets in the Central Europe and withdrawal of France from the military component of NATO were preconditions of moving the Headquarters (HQ) to Brunssum. The NATO transformation is affecting this subdivision till now. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the focus of the HQ moved from massive retaliation doctrine inherited in the Art.5 of the NATO Treaty to the flexible response. New range of the mission includes humanitarian assistance, peaceenforcement and collective defense, as well as peace-keeping operations. The Art.5 missions can be authorized by the UN, OECD or EU mandates and employ the resources and instruments even from non-member states. For example in Afghanistan, the ISAF mission, authorized by UN Security Council Resolutions, involve cooperation of 36 contributing nations, of which only 26 are NATO member-states. Today the spectrum of JFC in Brunssum embraces the International Security Assistance Force with 9000 soldiers on the ground, NATO Response Force and Deployed Joint Task Force continuum to ensure the ability to react rapidly and in short time in case of catastrophe or conflict, accession and integration of the NATO new members helping them to achieve higher military and preparation standards, assisting in the Dialogue between NATO and its partner-states, including Russia, Ukraine and Mediterranean through training and cooperation. New demands and security challenges require adaptation of new methods and instruments, as well as much higher and professional training of the soldiers, who must be peace-keeper, peace-enforcer and peace-builder at the same time. This is obviously seen in the Afghan mission, where ISAF and Provincial Reconstruction Teams’ soldiers have to combine military and civilian tasks while helping the Afghan government to rebuild its states. Although the stability and development of Afghanistan might take at least 15 more years, the little changes, such as new schools and hospitals, electricity, rising percentage of girls visiting school and the appreciation of the people show that the NATO is needed. Nodira Inoyatova, Qin Yunfeng, Mayeul Hieramente Federal Ministry of Defence, Bonn: The German Armed Forces on Mission Lieutenant Colonel Volker Bergander April 28, 2006 At the Ministry of Defence, Lieutenant Colonel Volker Bergander provided us with a warm welcome and introduced the „Führungsstab der Streitkräfte“, Department V 3. Main interest of this department is the accomplishing of international operations. Therefore, Lieutenant Colonel Bergander gave us an overview over current German operations worldwide. Of special interest was the planned operation to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where Germany is supposed to secure the coming elections as well as the mission to Afghanistan. Since Lieutenant Colonel Bergander proved to be an expert as regards to Afghanistan, he concentrated on that mission. The landing point for German troops is not Afghanistan, but an airport in Uzbekistan. The main tasks for the Germans in the framework of a NATO mission (ISAF) are to help the Afghanistan government to consolidate a rule of law 15
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New Challenges for the German Security Policy - IFSH

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