Main focus of Thursday, December 17, 2009

Russia keeps Nato hanging in midair

Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has visited Russia for the first time. At a meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday the two hailed the beginning of a new phase of cooperation, but didn't reach agreement on Russian support in Afghanistan.

Hospodářské noviny - Czech Republic

Following Russia's massive interventions in the Caucasus in 2008 the West froze its relations with Moscow. But it was clear to all that this state of affairs wouldn't last forever, the business paper Hospodářské Noviny writes, commenting on the visit of Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to Moscow: "The main reason for this has a name: Afghanistan. The West has manoeuvred itself into a position in which it needs all the help it can get. And Moscow has its own experiences with radical Islamists. … What does this mean in real terms: Russia will discretely open up further channels to Afghanistan; perhaps it will supply the Afghan army and police with weapons. However it will make sure it is paid for this - with money from the West. But for Moscow to open the tap even further the West must offer it something. Something it doesn't want to give: it would have to close the door to Nato for countries within Moscow's sphere of influence." (17/12/2009)

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Süddeutsche Zeitung - Germany

Russia will be of little assistance to Nato in Afghanistan and the requests of the Nato Secretary General in Moscow are therefore in vain, writes the left-liberal Süddeutsche Zeitung: "Anders Fogh Rasmussen ... might just as well have asked Father Christmas for help. Not that Moscow would question the wisdom of military aid. There are a couple of battle-scarred Afghanistan generals out there who still believe that where the Soviet Union failed no one can win. But the political leadership is aware how fatal Nato failure in its close neighbour Afghanistan could be. Nonetheless, this doesn't mean Moscow will shower Brussels with good deeds. The Georgia war which brought Nato and Russia to the brink of a military clash has not been forgotten. Russia's plan for a new European security framework is testimony to this. It would paralyse Nato or make it redundant if the latter were to join."  (17/12/2009)

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La Repubblica - Italy

Thirty years after the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan the Russian army may now return to Kabul, writes the left-liberal daily La Repubblica on Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen's Moscow visit: "The request of the Nato Secretary General was well received, and even has the approval of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. ... The idea is based on cooperation between Nato and the new Collective Security Treaty organisation to which seven countries which were part of the former Soviet Union belong. … The assessment on the part of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was on the whole positive, despite minor differences of opinion, but that's no doubt one of the rules in the Russian 'tandemocracy'. In plain English their message is: 'We are in the process of reaching an agreement [with Nato]." (17/12/2009)

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