NATO agreement with Russia is a glass half-full

It's not exactly bad news that NATO and Russia have agreed to resume military cooperation in the aftermath of the suspension that followed Moscow's unfortunate war with Georgia last year. But it certainly can't be called good news, either. "The NATO-Russia Council is up and running again also at the political level," NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a meeting of ministers Saturday in Corfu, Greece, according to Cable News Network (CNN). Russa is not a member of NATO but consults with the alliance and takes part in its international activities through the council, which was formed in 1982, CNN said. Of course it's important to keep a military power like Russia engaged in world diplomacy, but the Georgia crisis is far from resolved, at least as far as Western nations are concerned. Russia intervened military and humiliated the Georgian armed forces in a 5-day war last August after Georgia sent its military to try to prevent the secession of its South Ossetia and Ahzbakia provinces. Russia declined to attend last year's meeting and was suspended from the council, presumably to punish Moscow for extending immediate diplomatic recognition to the two provinces as independent countries and for not withdrawing its troops from Georgia as provided in last year's ceasefire accord. Well, it's nearly a year later and the situation remains the same. Russian troops still occupy South Ossetia and Ahzbakia, only now ostensibly to protect their soveriegnty, and Nicaragua is the only other country in the world to recognize them as independent states. It is counterproductive to pretend, as NATO has, that everything is back to normal. Scheffer said at the Corfu meeting that NATO-Russia cooperation on "common security interests" -- such as Afghanistan, arms control and fighing drug trafficking, terrorism and piracy -- was more important than the disagreement over Georgia. NATO ministers "are in the process of examining the current institutional structure of the NATO-Russia Council and have agreed to make it a more efficient and valuable instrument for our political dialogue and practical cooperation," Scheffer said. Tell that to our friends in Tblisi, the Georgian capital. And tell that to any other countries considering joining the Western alliance. Georgia's application to join NATO is said to have provoked Russia into launching last year's attack.

Duh! United States will post guards on ships sailing off Somalia

After months of piracy off the coast of Somalia that included the seizure of a U.S.-flagged merchant ship and its captain taken hostage, the United States has decided it's time to require guards to accompany the vessels. The U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday that it will require guards on merchant ships sailing off Somalia and require owners of the vessels to develop anti-piracy security plans, the Reuters international news service reported. How long could it have taken to figure this one out? The new rules will allow shipowners to decide whether to use armed or unarmed guards, Reuters said, citing remarks by Coast Guard Rear Admiral James Watson at a maritime security meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "We expect to see additional security on U.S.-flagged vessels that transit these waters," Watson said, according to Reuters. "It can involve the use of firearms. We are looking for things that work but that don't make the situation worse." Those "things" include what to do about countries that, like the United States, don't allow armed vessels to enter their ports and how to help shipping companies that will be impacted by higher insurance costs as a result of the introduction of weapons on their vessels, Reuters said. "We're not interested in putting ships out of business," said Watson, the Coast Guard's director of prevention policy. The new directive was signed Monday by Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen, Reuters said. Some shipowners expressed concern that with weapons aboard, misunderstanding between sailors could escalate into gunfights, Reuters said, since fishermen from some countries fire rifles into the air to warn other vessels away from their nets. U.S.-flagged ships that carry military cargo already are armed, Watson said.