Eva-Redi
zizani with a twist
Reged: Wed
Posts: 1184
Loc: Adelaide, South Australia
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The interconnectedness of it all ...
A 'unified military in Europe', NATO, and the issue of the Balkans Conflict:
June 7, 2008
Sarkozy last night in Athens...emphasised his desire to push forward his plans for military integration in Europe.
Britain has been opposed to the idea of a EU military headquarters, with critics regarding the proposal as likely to undermine the Nato military alliance.
However, a spokesman for Gordon Brown was reported as saying that while the British Government was committed to Nato as the cornerstone of European defence, it supported structured EU defence cooperation, as long as it neither duplicated the work of Nato, nor removed the British veto.
>> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4083354.ece
07 Jun 2008
Sarkozy was addressing a plenary session of Greece's parliament and said that he would focus on establishing a European accord on immigration and asylum as well as a defense policy with a role which would be different from NATO.
Sarkozy said, "We cannot have a common area of free movement of men and women and have 27 national policies on this issue".
>> http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=58990§ionid=351020605
June 6, 2008
The United States has been wary of a French-led push for a security and defense role for the EU because of concerns it could threaten NATO unity.
In a speech to Greece's Parliament, Sarkozy said the European Union must be able to defend itself.
"We are telling our partners that the European Union is one of the richest regions of the world. We cannot be rich, want to be powerful, hope to count politically and not be capable of ensuring our own defense," said Sarkozy, the first foreign head of state to address the Greek Parliament in nearly two decades.
But he said an EU defense would not threaten the Atlantic alliance.
>> http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/06/europe/EU-GEN-Greece-France-Sarkozy.php
June 06, 2008
During his visit to Athens the French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave lessons on solidarity among alliance partners. He was clear about alliance obligations, something that other Greek allies have not honored, although they request the political and logistical support of Athens.
The charismatic French leader made some explicit remarks on the Greece-FYROM name dispute as he is amongst those who do not find Greek worries "absurd". As he pointed out referring to the Greece-FYROM name dispute, "we have chosen to support Greece and we will not change our position. Greece and France wish to see FYROM get closer to NATO and the EU, yet, the name dispute will have to be settled first. The solidarity of France towards Greece is a fact and it will go on in the future. The Greek position is justified, responsible and open to a dialogue..."
American policy in the issue has been dominated by inflexibility. Ever since 1996 there was hard evidence that the US undermined the name issue and Greek security and dealt with it as if it were a "name game".
The last time an American leader felt apologetic for America's policy vis-a-vis Greece was B. Clinton. While visiting Athens he expressed his apologies for the US not standing by the Greek side and the democratic forces crashed under the military might of a handful of low-rank military officers. We should have been more careful with our Greek allies...we should have done more to prevent the expression of the military coup in Greece in 1967...we focused exclusively on the Soviet Union and forgot our obligations to our ally, B. Clinton said. It takes a charismatic leader to acknowledge mistakes of the past and Bill Clinton was one of those.
That was probably the first and last moral support Greece got from an ally that has de jure served ever since 1952. Still too many in Greece think that this is not enough. N. Sarkozy made this feeling more acute and exposed American inability to accommodate the institutionally-derived expectations and security considerations of an allied country.
>> http://modern-macedonian-history.blogspot.com/2008/06/nicolas-sarkozy-lays-down-alliance.html
May 3, 2008
The modern challenges [in the Balkans] require flexibility, cooperation with partners and most importantly adherence to the rules of the game as described by the International Law and Treaties. In that sense Kosovo's independence could have been prevented hence enabling USA to become the factor of stability for the Balkans...
Greece's [veto] stance became a perfect opportunity for the European capitals to show their version of a red line in connection to the State Department's ambitions.
Thus France and its President Nicola Sarkozy backed Athens...while Italy, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Luxemburg, and Iceland took a clear pro-Greek stance. UK, Canada, Germany, Bulgaria and Romania either stayed in the sidelines or tacitly backed Greek propositions in order to distant themselves from the American side. In essence for the first time in NATO's almost 60 years history, Washington became isolated from its historical partners managing only to have the support of Turkey, Slovenia and the Baltic states. The 'Old Europe' took its revenge just 5 years after Donald Rumsfeld arrogantly declared the emergence of a 'New Europe', which judged under a realistic prism, is more of an American follower, rather than a partner in the true sense of the word.
Once again the Balkans become accustomed to their political nature as it was quoted by Bismarck who claimed that a new war could come about from some "Silly thing in the Balkans". Perhaps the evolving Balkan landscape might not be silly at all for power interests that have capitalized extensively in instability and decadence and are viewing the latest developments under a distressful eye fearing the loss of their [NATO] bases and influence.
>> http://www.serbianna.com/columns/michaletos/033.shtml
... its all about comparatives between dialogue and 'perspective', afterall
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Βρήκες ακατάλληλη στιγμή να με ανταμώσεις. Eγώ δεν έχω τίποτα, πάλι σου το θυμίζω. Mια καρδια μου έμεινε ♥ παρ’την, σου την χαρίζω. Δεν έχω όνειρο, ούτε φτερά για να πετάξω ...
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