Tag Archives: NATO

Germany extends military base lease in Uzbekistan

OCT. 31 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Germany has agreed a deal with Uzbekistan to keep open an air base in the south of the country, media reported. According to German media, a helicopter crash a few days

before the current lease ran out at the end of October complicated the deal to extend the lease for the base which Germany took over in 2001 in the aftermath of the attack on New York by Al Qaeda and the NATO invasion of Afghanistan.

The base is important for several reasons.

After the withdrawal of the US military from their base outside Bishkek, the German base in Uzbekistan will now be NATO’s only full time base in the region. The French air force use the airport at Dushanbe but they share many of the facilities with civilian aircraft.

Uzbekistan is also an important transit country for NATO which is planning on shifting most of its kit out of Afghanistan through Uzbekistan and Russia.

For Uzbekistan, the German base is also something of a bulwark against the threat of Al Qaeda and Taliban across the border in Afghanistan.

Neither Uzbek nor German officials gave any details on the lease extension deal. Media reported that Germany stations about 300 soldiers at the base. Details of a 2011 deal showed that it paid 16m euros a year to lease the base.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)

Georgia arrested military officials

OCT. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s General Prosecutor arrested four current and one former senior military officials for corruption. The officers are accused of organising a sham tender for military procurements. The arrests will be a blow to Georgia aspires to join NATO.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)

Georgia to host NATO centre

OCT. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a move that threatens to aggravate delicate relations with Russia, Georgia is planning to open up a NATO training base.

Georgian defence minister Irakly Alasania told Reuters in an interview that Georgia would not be cowed by a Russian warning not to host any NATO equipment or bases.

“Confrontation with Russia should be avoided. Georgia needs stability,” he said. “But we will never bow to the Russians.”

Relations between Russia and Georgia have improved since Mikheil Saakashvili quit as Georgian president last year but they are still icy and have been aggravated by alleged Russian action in Ukraine. Georgia supports the pro-Western Ukraine government.

Georgia has been pushing to join NATO for some years and has supported operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Earlier this month, Russia warned Georgia not to host any NATO equipment, although that warning appears to have been ignored.

“This centre will be jointly operated by NATO and Georgia and it’s going to be an additional layer of security and defensive capability for Georgia,” Mr Alasania said. “It will be a Georgia-owned facility, but planning will be jointly done with NATO.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)

Georgia and Russia spar

OCT. 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia and Russia often appear to be playing an extended game of cat and mouse.

Only a few days after Russia warned Georgia that it would not tolerate any NATO equipment in the country, USS Mount Whitney steamed into Batumi, its third visit to the Georgian Black Sea port (since 2008).

Its mission, according to reports, is a simple joint training exercise with Georgia’s navy. On its previous two trips Russia has accused it of delivering arms.

And only on Oct. 9, Russia had said that if NATO deployed so-called infrastructure to Georgia it would destabilise the region. At a meeting between Georgian and Russian officials in Geneva, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that it was concerned about reports that NATO was moving kit into the region.

“Such actions would create a threat to emerging stability in the Transcaucasus region,” the Russian foreign ministry said.

In general, relations between the two neighbours have improved since former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili lost power last year. Georgia, though, has been heavily critical of Russia’s alleged support of Ukraine rebels and it has increased its rhetoric about joining NATO.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 204, published on Oct. 15 2014)

Turkmen President talks up Caspian Sea pipeline

OCT. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s president Kurgbanguly Berdymukhamedov ended a meeting of the leaders of the countries that border the Caspian Sea by saying that it was their right to build a pipeline across the inland water, media reported.

The meeting — which included the leaders of Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Iran and Azerbaijan — broke up without any major deals although they did agree not to allow NATO forces into the region.

Perhaps the most important single element of the meeting, though, were reports from Astrakhan, the venue in Russia for the meeting, that appeared to push the possibility of a sub-Caspian Sea gas pipeline nearer.

This has been touted before but has never been put into action. The cost has previously been considered too great but now, with demand for energy increasing from Europe, it may make business sense to build the pipeline.

There is also the extra added consideration that most of the infrastructure needed to pump the gas on from Azerbaijan to Europe has already been built or is scheduled to be built soon.

This week Azerbaijan’s president welcomed the deputy PM of Turkmenistan to Baku. Last week the head of Azerbaijan’s energy company SOCAR was in Ashgabat. There may be some reason behind all this activity. One to watch.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)

Georgia takes another step towards NATO

SEPT. 4-5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – NATO took, yet another, tentative step towards admitting Georgia to its club at its conference in Cardiff.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish head of the US-led military group, said that a substantive package had been drawn up to help aspiring members join.

“Each aspirant has work to do in different areas and we will give them support they need,” he said. “We agreed on substantive package of measures for Georgia that will help Georgia advance in its preparations towards membership of NATO.”

This is good news for Georgia, and probably as good as it could realistically have expected. Ukraine is another country that wants to join NATO, as well as Australia, a more easy country for NATO to accept.

The 28-member NATO also agreed to boost Georgia’s military defences.

Georgia fought a brief war with Russia in 2008 and is dealing with two frozen conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The problem for the NATO member states is that they want to show a strong face against Russian aggression in the former Soviet Union but they also want to avoid inheriting a load of problems that could well drag them into somebody else’s war.

All-in-all, the NATO summit probably lived up to expectations from Georgia.

“We will have very important steps taken in regard of NATO standards by the next summit (in Poland in 2016),” said Georgian president Giorgi Margvelashvili.

It remains to be seen if Mr Margvelashvili is being realistic or just optimistic.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Hagel visits Georgia

SEPT. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Chuck Hagel, the US defence secretary, flew into Tbilisi for a high profile visit to pledge support for Georgia and its NATO ambitions. Mr Hagel’s trip was designed as much to send a message to Russia as it was to bolster Georgian morale. He also discussed selling US Blackhawk helicopters to Georgia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

French navy visits Georgia

SEPT. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A French warship docked at the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi for joint-exercises with Georgia forces, another show of support for the country from a NATO member. This is the third visit to Georgia by a French naval ship this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Georgia will push for NATO

SEPT 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian officials have said that they will ask for NATO membership at its summit in Wales starting on Sept. 4, media reported. Fighting in Ukraine and the expansion of NATO is top of the agenda at the meeting in Wales. Georgia has been pushing for NATO membership for the last few years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)

US supports Georgian NATO ambition

AUG. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a boost for Georgia’s chances of joining NATO, or at least making serious progress towards joining, US vice-president Joe Biden said that he supported the Georgian ambition of joining the Western military alliance, media reported. NATO is due to meet for its annual conference in September.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 197, published on Aug. 27 2014)