NATO`s landmark co-operation agreement with Russia marks another step in the transformation of the North Atlantic alliance. The agreement with Russia not only puts a definite end to the Cold War but also better positions NATO to tackle post-September 11 security threats.
The terror attacks of September 11 heightened the sense of insecurity worldwide. NATO`s response to the attacks when it invoked Article 5 of its treaty and declared the attack on America as an attack against all members helped to bolster international security perceptions at a critical moment.
The conclusion of months of negotiations between Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and his American counterpart Colin Powell and other NATO ministers on a new council in which Russia will sit with the 19 NATO nations to formulate joint policy on terrorism and other shared threats opens a new chapter in transAtlantic security relations.
The new NATO-Russia Council has a mandate to deal with a fixed range of issues that include terrorism, arms proliferation, missile defence, peacekeeping, management of regional crises, search and rescue efforts and arms control.
NATO`s forward-looking agenda also includes plans to invite new members from Eastern Europe to join the Alliance later this year. Up to nine candidates from Central and Eastern Europe are set to become members of the alliance. A decision on who will be invited to join NATO is expected in November, when NATO holds a special summit in Prague.
The US is also hoping that the Prague summit will produce a commitment from the Europeans to upgrade their defence budgets. European countries do not currently spend enough of their defence budgets in areas that that will enable them to participate in rapid reaction missions. Closure of the widening gap between US military capability and Europe`s outdated armed forces and how to modernise and refocus the alliance to confront the threat of terrorism are the Alliance`s main challenges.
If the European dimension of NATO is to contribute to future rapid reaction operations in a significant manner it is essential that more funding be committed to the procurement of large military transport planes and precision weapons and the training of special forces. In the medium to long-term it is in NATO`s interest to create a security alliance where transAtlantic interoperability is a guiding theme if the concept of burden-sharing is to be better implemented.
Since September 11 Russian President Vladimir Putin`s co-operation with NATO has helped to end 60 years of estrangement between Russia and the West. The unprecedented co-operation at the highest level between Washington and Moscow is set to continue later this month when US President George W. Bush and Putin are set to sign a new US-Russian nuclear arms treaty that will see their arsenals cut by two-thirds.
Further evidence of the continuing rapprochement between Russia and the US and the readiness of Russia to play an active co-operative role in evolving European security arrangements will follow when the first meeting of the new NATO-Russia Council takes place between President Putin and President Bush and other NATO leaders at an air force base outside Rome at the end of May.
More than a decade after the fall of the Berlin wall major shifts in power alignments across the transAtlantic and Eurasian regions are changing the nature of international relations in a positive manner. The indivisibility of European and Mediterranean security means that evolving great power alliances will also impact on the Mediterranean.
Numerous indicators point towards NATO becoming more concerned with issues pertaining to the Mediterranean in the years to come. Although terrorism and arms proliferation are not specific Mediterranean phenomena, it is clear that many of the Mediterranean`s unresolved political, social, and religious questions are fertile ground for such activities to find support. The ongoing Middle East conflict is also another source of potential instability that could upset European and Mediterranean security.
Energy security is another factor that will keep NATO`s glance southwards in a fixed position. With 65 per cent of Europe`s oil and natural gas imports passing through the Mediterranean and some 3,000 ships crossing the basin everyday, energy security is taking on a whole new meaning in the strategic environment of the 21st century.