Habib Toumi

Rasmussen highlighting NATO's stance on various issues

NATO, the world’s largest military alliance, would consider Iran a threat if it acquired the nuclear capacity, the organisation’s secretary general has said.
“While NATO as such is not involved in the Iran issue, we support the international endeavours to find a political and diplomatic solution. But if Iran at a certain stage actually acquires the nuclear capacity, then we would consider it a threat against the alliance,” Anders Fogh Rasmussen told Gulf News. “This is also the reason we are currently considering the establishment of a missile defence system that we can start to deploy by 2011 and then it will be gradually developed.”
The system will be set up in Europe, and will cover all NATO allies.
“The Americans are of course in the lead, but according to their new approach and plans, the missile defence system will be developed within a NATO framework and it can cover all allies, so that all European allies can be protected by the missile defence system,” he said.

Rasmussen who was elected to the top post last year, blamed Taliban for causing the death of many innocent civilians.
“I have to say that a huge majority of the casualties are caused by the Taliban, and I base this on statistics from the United Nations. We know that Taliban use innocent civilians, women and children, as human shields on routes, in windows and elsewhere,” he said. continue reading…

Rasmussen with Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman - BNA

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh has highlighted the “important partnership” between NATO and the Gulf members of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI), saying that the alliance and the Gulf countries had to confront common security threats. 

“We face common challenges and threats, such as failed states, terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, piracy and energy security,” Rasmussen said in Manama. “These are all security issues that cannot be successfully tackled by any one country alone. They require a multilateral and cooperative approach to security, including through the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative. Therefore it is clear that the security of Bahrain, and of all our ICI partner countries, is of strategic interest to NATO,” he told a gathering of diplomats, journalists and think tank members. 

Rasmussen, who was elected to the post last year, said that NATO and the GCC had “a shared interest in helping countries like Afghanistan, Kosovo and Iraq to stand on their own feet again, and in preventing countries like Somalia, Yemen and Sudan from slipping deeper into chaos.” 

Instability that could be caused by Iran’s nuclear ambition in the region that is pivotal for global stability and security is also a serious source of concern, he said.  continue reading…