Rasmussen's term extended by a further two months

By Ian Davis, NATO Watch

NATO announced last week that current head Anders Fogh Rasmussen will stay in his post two months longer than previously expected to prepare and oversee the Alliance’s next Summit in South Wales in September 2014. Rasmussen was initially due to complete his four-year term in July 2013 but that was previously extended by one year to July 2014.
NATO ambassadors have now decided he should stay in office until the end of September 2014 “to enable him to prepare and preside” at the UK Summit earlier that month, a statement said. The last summit was held in Chicago in 2012.
The 2014 Summit comes before the planned withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan, its biggest and longest military operation. NATO currently plans to maintain a training and assistance mission in Afghanistan post-2014 but its future is in doubt as Afghan President Hamid Karzai is refusing to sign a security pact with Washington on its legal and operational status. Washington and NATO both say there can be no continued Alliance presence in Afghanistan without such a pact. Despite initial success and a huge investment in lives and money, the Taliban remain a threat amid doubts that Afghan government forces will be able to hold them at bay after NATO leaves.
The UK Summit is also meant to set the guidelines for NATO’s future role at a time when defence budgets are under pressure everywhere and as costs for increasingly sophisticated military hardware steadily mount.
Rasmussen, 60 and a former Danish prime minister, was appointed for the maximum single NATO term in 2009. Among names mentioned as possible successors for a post always held by a European are former Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini, Belgian Defence Minister, Pieter de Crem and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski who was formerly in charge of defence.
Meanwhile, two key developments have taken place in the Nordic - Baltic region. First, a higher level of regional defence cooperation was announced at a Summit in Helsinki at the beginning of December. Enhanced common equipment procurements and the establishment of joint operating units are part of the new Nordic Vision 2020 charter rolled out at the Summit of Nordic defence ministers and military chiefs attached to Nordic Defense Cooperation (NORDEFCO). Officials from the Baltic states, Poland, Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, the European Defence Agency and NATO’s Allied Command Transformation attended, reflecting a broadening of Nordic defence cooperation.
Second, Russia has stationed missiles in its Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad, the pro-government newspaper Izvestia reported. The German newspaper Bild had earlier reported that secret satellite images revealed the missiles' placement. The reports have caused concern in both Poland and the Baltic states. "It creates unnecessary political tension and suspicions and reduces mutual trust because we don't see reason why Russians would need such weapons here," Artis Pabriks, Latvia's defence minister told the Reuters news agency.

 

In 2011 Russia said it might put missiles in its westernmost region in response to a US decision to build missile defences in Europe. The Iskander missile has a range of about 400 kilometres, which means those in Kaliningrad could reach Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.