Leavenworth Strategist

NATO To Give Russia Early Warning

(The Norway Post) NATO members Norway, Poland and Turkey are to set up a radar system which will give Russia early warning about possible threats from abroad. In return, Russia will provide NATO with information of similar possible threats against NATO. 

A spokesman for the Polish defence department says the headquarter for the new radar system will be located in Warsaw.

According to the Polish newspaper Dziennik, the new radar network will gather information from the three nations' radar stations and inform Russia about possible threats from the air.

NATO allies reluctant to increase Afghan presence

International Herald Tribune/The Associated Press, Friday, February 20, 2009

KRAKOW, Poland: NATO defense ministers concluded two days of talks here Friday with indications that few allies were willing to offer significant numbers of additional combat troops for Afghanistan but that they might seek to compensate by deploying more civilians to train local security forces and build the country's economy.

The announcement this week that the Obama administration would send 17,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan by the summer was met with formal offers from allies numbering only in the hundreds of fresh troops of their own.

NATO ships in Black Sea on routine visit, unrelated to Georgia crisis

NATO Press Release, 28 Aug 08- The Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1), a group of NATO warships, conducts routine port visits and exercises with NATO member nations bordering the Black Sea since 21 August.

This deployment is routine in nature and has been planned for over a year, notification of the requirement to transit the Turkish Straits was given in June well before the current Georgia crisis and is completely unrelated. In accordance with the terms of the Montreux Convention, the ships will stay no longer than 21 days in the Black Sea. 

SNMG 1 currently comprises the Spanish SPS Adm Juan de Borbon, the German, FGS Luebeck and the Polish, ORP General K Pulaski and the US frigate, USS Taylor.

Russia Lashes Out on (US-Polish) Missile Deal

(NY Times) By THOM SHANKER and NICHOLAS KULISH

WASHINGTON — The United States and Poland reached a long-stalled deal on Thursday to place an American missile defense base on Polish territory, in the strongest reaction so far to Russia’s military operation in Georgia.

Russia reacted angrily, saying that the move would worsen relations with the United States that have already been strained severely in the week since Russian troops entered separatist enclaves in Georgia, a close American ally. At a news conference on Friday, a senior Russian defense official, Colonel General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, suggested that Poland was making itself a target by agreeing to serve as host for the anti-missile system. Such an action “cannot go unpunished,” he said.

Poland calls for stronger EU military

(International Herald Tribune by Judy Dempsey)

WARSAW: In a major shift in policy, Poland, long considered a close ally of the United States, wants the European Union to beef up its military role by having its own independent planning headquarters and more say over military issues, according to the Polish defense minister.

We are in favor of a much stronger role for European defense, and that would include a military headquarters," said Bogdan Klich, who was appointed defense minister last year when the party of Donald Tusk, Civic Platform, defeated the nationalist-conservative government of Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

But he said Poland would maintain its traditionally strong pro-U.S. stance.

NATO to Endorse U.S. Missile Shield

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - NATO leaders meeting in Bucharest were set to endorse a planned U.S. missile shield for Europe on Thursday, a senior U.S. official told reporters.

The final summit statement would "recognize the substantive contribution to the protection of the allies" from the missile defense system to be deployed in the Czech Republic and Poland, the official told reporters.

Poland warning over Nato troops

Poland's foreign minister has attacked some Nato members for not committing enough troops to Afghanistan.

Radoslaw Sikorski said he would commit Polish troops and helicopters to assist Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.

His criticism comes amidst warnings from Canada that it will pull out its troops from Afghanistan unless Nato reinforcements are sent.

NATO ministers offer helicopters for Afghanistan, but no more troops

Bernier pushes for 'super-envoy' to focus efforts

Mike Blanchfield

The Ottawa Citizen

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Canada continued to press some of its reluctant NATO allies yesterday to contribute more to front-line fighting in southern Afghanistan, but had to settle for a few more Polish helicopters.

NATO foreign ministers ended their two days of meetings in Brussels yesterday by issuing a communiqué that stressed the need to more effectively deliver additional reconstruction help to legitimize the government of President Hamid Karzai, singling out the role of provincial reconstruction teams -- such as the one operated by Canada in Kandahar City -- as a crucial element.

Poland will pull out of Iraq next year

By VANESSA GERA
WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Poland's new prime minister outlined ambitious plans for the next four years in his inaugural address Friday, saying he plans to withdraw troops from Iraq next year but also push for stronger relations with NATO.