Nato And The Middle East

While NATO was created with a primary outlook to the East, its Southern rim was neglected strategically until the end of the Cold War. Since then, the Alliance has undertaken a number of efforts to build strategic relationships with the Middle East and North Africa, recognizing the region's importance for Allied security. But obstacles are on the way to deepened relations, and geostrategic realities do not play in NATO's favor: a region of crisis, suspicious of the West in general and riddled with internal instability, is a difficult one to build ties with. This monograph examines the existing relationships as well as the remaining obstacles, and proposes solutions to the latter.

Annotation This work attempts to define the interests of members of the Atlantic Alliance with regard to the Middle East, to indicate some of the threats that may arise, to outline the most important military and political factors and describe the institutional structures, relationships and procedures which will also affect decisions on the use of force.

The Middle East and North Africa might not be the first region that comes to mind when one contemplates the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). To many, the Alliance was founded largely to unite Europe and North America, and to counter threats emerging from the Soviet bloc. The end of the Cold War changed these assumptions-not least to be proven by NATO's Operation in Libya in 2011, sanctioned by the League of Arab States. In this monograph, Dr. Florence Gaub describes how the region has moved from the rim of the Alliance's security perspective toward a more nuanced vision that recognizes the region's role in an ever-changing and more-complex world. NATO has understood the security implications emerging from the changes taking place among its southern neighbors and the need for dialogue and cooperation. Dr. Gaub gives not only an overview of the different frameworks of cooperation that NATO has with the Middle East and North Africa, but also explains their evolution and potential.

Despite having been active in the region since the mid-1990s, the role of NATO in the Middle East has attracted particular attention since the events of 11th September 2001. This book analyses the limits of NATOâe(tm)s role in the Middle East region and examines whether or not the Alliance is able to help in improving the fragile regional security environment through cooperative links with select Middle Eastern partners. The author reviews the strategic importance of the region from a Western perspective and why it has become a source of instability in world politics, looks at US and international initiatives to counteract this instability, and charts the development of NATO in this context. He also examines NATOâe(tm)s role with regard to two pressing Middle Eastern crises, Iraq and Darfur, assessing whether or not this role has been consistent with, if not an expression of, US strategic interests. A comprehensive examination of the impacts of 9-11 events on world security and the development of NATOâe(tm)s role in the Middle East, this book will be an important addition to the existing literature on security and strategic affairs, US foreign policy, Middle Eastern politics, European politics, and terrorism studies.

This book describes the historical background of the Middle East and, in particular, Turkey, prior to the end of World War II. It takes up the various steps taken by the United States to combat Soviet moves after the war to take over this strategic area. It describes the inception of the Truman Doctrine to rearm and strengthen Greece and Turkey in the face of British withdrawal, the unsuccessful efforts made by the United States and Britain to establish a Middle East command or defense organisation, and the successful U.S. efforts to get Turkey into NATO, which blocked Soviet entry. '...Ambassador McGhee has chronicled the events which led to Turkey's accession to NATO with great clarity and in a most interesting and readable fashion. He throws a fascinating light on the relationship between the United States of America and Turkey and the personalities involved. This book not only deserves to be read, but it deserves study by all of those who are interested in Defence and Foreign Affairs.' Lord Carrington

Over the course of more than seven decades, NATO has sought, but not settled on, an effective strategy for interacting with its neighbours in the Middle East and North Africa. Rolf Schwarz traces the evolution of NATO's engagement with its neighbouring regionâ€"including the launching of the Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative and assesses its potential for promoting regional stability and peace.

On July 15-16, 1999, RAND's Center for Middle East Public Policy and the Geneva Center for Security Policy held a workshop on the likelihood of out-of-area roles for NATO, with emphasis on the Middle East. The 25 attendees explored NATO's role in operations beyond its borders, European capabilities for power projection, Western policy toward the Middle East and the Gulf, the Arab-Israel area and external power intervention, and external intervention and the Persian Gulf. There was a general consensus that any military action required in the Gulf or Middle East would probably be carried out by a coalition of willing NATO members rather than NATO as an institution. The gap between U.S. power projection capabilities and those of Europe is particularly striking in modern and transport aircraft and in smart weapons. The disparity was particularly evident in the Kosovo conflict. Considerable attention was given to Turkey's role in Middle East affairs, particularly the