Ukrainian President Yushchenko declares democratic sovereignty

Amid domestic political turmoil and neighboring geopolitical conflict, speaking through a translator, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko addressed the country's future plans for an independent and democratic Ukraine. Nearly two weeks ago, Ukraine's ruling coalition collapsed, and last year at this time the parliamentary elections put in place an 'orange' coalition featuring an alliance between the Yushchenko's party and the party of Prime Minister Julia Temeshinko. The recent Russian-Georgian conflict has caused international tension between Ukraine and Russia over the fact that Ukraine hosts Russia's Black Sea fleet and the transportation of energy supplies between Russia and Europe.

In the context of the Russian-Georgian conflict and pro-Russian forces active in the Krimean area, Yushchenko said that he is ready to fight and protect his sovereign nation and determine it's own defense and security policy. He strongly confirmed that his territory would never be used for any country to deploy nuclear weapons. Addressing the fears of communist presence in the government, Yushchenko did not understand how Prime Minister Temeshinko made their top partnership with communists because, he said, "there are no Ukrainian communists. These communists always represented interests of a different country."

Yushchenko confirmed his support of NATO, saying it is "the best model to guarantee security in the (Ukraine's) international coordinates". The President continued to declare his plan for a democratic Ukraine and integration into the European Union under the Association Agreement. The Association Agreements would include a free trade area and a start to negotiations of visa free access between the EU and Ukraine.

Secretaries of state address the challenges the next president will face

Although the administrations they served held clear differences in their views on foreign policy, five former secretaries of state seemed to arrive at a unified conclusion: the next president will need to take innovative steps in order to restore the reputation of the United States abroad.

Speaking at a George Washington University forum on the challenges of the next president, former secretaries of state Madeline Albright, James Baker, Warren Christopher, Henry Kissinger, and Colin Powell touched upon a myriad of topics, including how the U.S. should engage with increasingly hostile regimes, what steps the next president should take to combat climate change, and what should be done about the current brood of humanitarian crises.

Iraq played an important role in the hour-and-a-half discussion and brought forth a disagreement between Albright and Kissinger. When faced with the question of whether or not the U.S. should adopt a timetable for troop withdrawal, Kissinger remarked that it gave every opponent the opportunity to hold out for a deadline. Albright replied,

"There's a difference from saying that we have to remove our troops by 16 months and saying we need to bring them out at x minute."

The five secretaries also backed future support of NATO, despite recent aggression from Russia.

"The Russian Federation is not going to be the Soviet Union. That movie failed at the box office," said Powell.

Domestic issues were also addressed. Baker, who also served as the Secretary of Treasury from 1985–1988 commented that the recent collapse of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Lehman Brothers was one of the worst economic disasters in the century and agreed with the recent decision to not bail out any more banks.

The election was discussed in the closing segment of the forum. Baker mentioned that he endorsed McCain, Albright said that she was supporting Barack Obama, and Powell continued to withhold his endorsement, saying that he will wait until the debates. When asked by moderator Frank Sesno if he was having a hard time deciding since Powell was the first black Secretary of State and Obama stands to be the first black President, Powell simply announced that he was an American first and foremost and would not let either his friendship with McCain or his similarity in race with Obama influence his decision.

While Kissinger did not mention whether or not he would endorse a candidate he did give his opinion on the superfluous nature of the presidential race.

"I think the 24 hour news cycle and constant demands produce a necessity on the candidate to pretend they have an answer to every question."

Senators tour Afghanistan, hear the need for more troops

"The situation is good, but we feel that there is a lot more work to do," said Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on a conference call with reporters to discuss his trip to Afghanistan to meet with President Hamid Karzai. Senator Reid was accompanied by other members of the U.S. Senate including Jeff Bingamen(D-N.M.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and John Isakson (R-Ga.). The delegation flew first to Kyrgyzstan. After visiting troops and commanders in Afghanistan, they are staying for a day in Kazakhstan.

The Senate majority leader said there is concern about the resurgence of the Taliban, but that the ability to "deal with them" has been increased. Principal areas of concern are in eastern Afghanistan, as well as increasing violence in the south on the border with Pakistan.

Ried reported that the senators had met commanders in Afghanistan, principally Gen. David McKiernan, commander of International Security Assistance Force - Afghanistan (ISAF). "They generals made it clear that they need more resources," he said.

ISAF commanders have requested three additional combat brigades, specifically citing the need for trainers and mentors for Afghan army and national police. At the April summit in Bucharest, the Department of Defense increased pressure on NATO allies to increase troop levels to Afghanistan and remove caveats that keep certain countries' troops from combat. Recently the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has said that the DoD is considering sending more troops to Afghanistan "sooner rather than later." The Defense Department recently extended the deployment of about 3,450 Marines in Afghanistan by one month. Additionally, about 200 trainers were slated to go to Afghanistan last week.

Reid emphasized that he wants to give Afghanistan the attention it needs, saying it would have been better is Afghanistan had been given consistent troop level from the beginning.

Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain have said they would send 10,000 more troops to Afghanistan if elected president.

Maybe Afghanistan needs a police academy

The Afghanistan military force is doing well for a young army, according to commander of the Combined Security transition command - Afghanistan (CSTCA) Major General Robert W. Cone.

Cone discussed some of the progress made by CSTCA in Afghanistan. According to Cone, CSTCA’s goal is to organize, train, equip and employ security forces to defeat insurgencies. He said that increasing the rule of law and gaining internal security will lay the foundation for economic stability. Cone said that CSTA accomplishes this through embedded training teams, police mentor teams and operational mentor liaison teams to teach, equip and mentor the Afghan army and community.

When asked how many Americans were under his command, Cone said that in CSTCA there are 3,000 civilians and 5,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. Cone acknowledged the increased attacks in Afghanistan and noted that the Afghan army has stepped up to address that problem. According to Cone, half of the forces dealing with the attacks are Afghan military forces. Cone pointed out that the Afghan military forces also lead 66 percent of operations which he said was impressive for such a young army. Military forces improve at combat by participating and the Afghan military ‘learns by doing,’ according to Cone.

Cone addressed the fact that Afghan police are several years behind the army in terms of development. Cone said changes such as pay reform and rank reform are required to ensure greater accountability. CSTCA is currently short of 2,300 NATO police trainers but Cone also noted that countries such as the U.K. and Canada are contributing police trainers. Cone emphasized that he is ‘very optimistic’ of the future of Afghan security and said that he believes the Afghans in the army and police force are patriots.

‘Complementarity’ key to U.S. and Europe military partnership

The Heritage Foundation hosted a panel on “North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) militaries, today and tomorrow: what kind of partners can America expect in Europe?”. Sally McNamara, senior policy analyst of European affairs at the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, said that there has been an on-going debate about ‘America’s unilateralism’ compared to ‘Europe’s unwillingness to fight the war on terror.’ McNamara expressed that the discussion was not meant to point fingers but to look at Europe’s military capabilities.

Dr. Jackson Janes, executive director of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, said that since 1994 Germany has been overcoming a ‘culture of reticence’ for wanting to use military action. According to Janes, Germany has projected that by 2010, their armed forces will be structured with 350, 000 response forces for high intensity operations, 15,000 forces for NATO rapid response, 70,000 forces for stabilization and 147,000 forces earmarked for comprehensive joint and sustainable support of operations. Janes also said that Germany faces budgetary constraints as only 1.4% of its gross domestic product (GDP) is used for defense, compared to the minimum two percent of GDP that is usually recommended.

Peter Podbielski, senior analyst at the Center for European Policy Analysis, said that NATO transformation has been hindered by factors such as time, money and the absence of a coherent military transformation concept. With regards to military cooperation, Podbielski cited the Polish for being the most capable and enthusiastic military to partner with both the U.S. and NATO. Podbielski also expressed that missile defense could serve as a ‘catalyst for further cooperation’ between NATO and the U.S.

Brigadier Phil Jones, military attache and British defense staff at the British embassy, emphasized that states no longer have to choose between NATO and the European Union (EU). Jones said that 'complementarity' is a concept that everyone is comfortable with and everyone is working to develop usable military capabilities.