France is to buy two American Reaper surveillance drones to be deployed in the war in Mali before the end of this year, announces Libération.

The daily, which points out that France is planning to acquire 12 surveillance drones over the next few years, explains that —

Above and beyond the acquisition of the two Reapers, more of these aircraft will have to be bought in the medium term. [...] France especially wants its assembly lines to produce the drone of the future, a kind of armed Rafale without a pilot, between now and 2035. “In a collaborative programme with the British, we have both invested €20m,” says the Ministry of Defence. Doubtless this one of the final opportunities to avoid definitive dependence on the American ally.

Libération notes that French Defence Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drien, has spoken of “possible European collaboration” and is hoping to “bring the British and the Germans, ‘who have similar needs’, into the loop.” However, “this process appears to be deadlocked,” in the wake of a recent move by Le Drien’s German counterpart, Thomas de Maizière.

He cancelled the purchase of four Euro Hawk drones, built by EADS and American company Northrop Grumman. His decision was announced in the wake of revelations in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that “the Ministry of Defence had continued with the EuroHawk programme, whose costs ran to several billion euros, even though it was fully aware that it would not be authorised to use the aircraft in German and European airspace,” because of its lack of an anti-collision system.

“The embarrassing truth does not only concern the current Minister of Defence,” remarks *FAZ. But also —

… his predecessors Guttenberg (CSU), Jung (CDU) and Struck (SPD). All of whom failed to pose the crucial question: How can a drone be authorised to fly in civil airspace, if it is not equipped with reliable anti-collision system?

“The Russian military has once again taken Sweden by surprise,” writes Svenska Dagbladet, which reports on another apparent incursion into its airspace, in the wake of a previous incident at the end of March.

According to the daily, on April 20, a Russian spyplane, which most probably took off from the Kaliningrad exclave, conducted a mission in the narrow strip of international airspace over the Swedish Baltic Sea islands of Öland and Gotland, “at a time when Sweden was conducting a major military exercise,” which involved 1,400 troops within the NATO framework.

On April 25, the Swedish parliament’s foreign affairs and defence committee is to meet with chiefs of staff to discuss this latest episode, which once again highlighted their failure to provide a sufficiently rapid response.

On the night of March 29, a Russian airforce unit comprising of two long-range bombers and four fighters, which took off from Saint-Petersburg, carried out mock attacks on military targets in the Stockholm region and in southern Sweden.

NATO responded by deploying two Danish interceptors from Lithuania.

Svenska Dagbladet notes that even though Moscow had notified Stockholm that it would be conducting military exercises over the Easter weekend, the Swedish airforce was not on alert on the evening in question.

This oversight does not sit well with a recent declaration made by Swedish Defence Minister Karin Enström, who on January 15, announced that “the goal of [Swedish] security crisis and defence policy was to be on alert and ready to respond to unpredictable events 24/7.”

“Autumn will see a real battle of manoeuvres: NATO forces will run a large scale training exercise in Poland, recreating a scenario in which they defend Estonia from attack, while Russia and Belarus will repel a strike from the Polish territory,” writes the daily adding it will echo a return to the Cold War.

According to Polska, around 3,000 soldiers from 17 countries will take part in the NATO manoeuvres, which are scheduled to begin in early November.

“The exercise will be a symbol of the new NATO, which is returning to its core principle of defending its member states,” said General Stanisław Koziej, head of the National Security Bureau.

On March 15, the US government announced the cancellation of the fourth phase of its planned missile defence shield, designed to counter threats to US territory — and, in particular, ballistic missiles from Russia.

The batteries of interceptors established in Romania and Poland to counter missiles from the Middle East, which constitute the second and third phase of the defence system, will remain.

The cancellation of the fourth phase amounts to a “US concession to Russia,” which insisted that this phase “represented a threat to its nuclear capability,” notes the newspaper.

“It’s a breakthrough, but for the time being, only in thinking,” said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk after the Warsaw meeting of the Visegrad Group. The leaders of the Central European alliance sat down with French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on March 6 to discuss plans to coordinate the group’s defence policy.

Gazeta Wyborcza stresses the summit was the first such meeting of the Visegrad 4 (V4) with Merkel and Hollande, something that would have been unthinkable for example during Jacques Chirac’s presidency. “Even though the cooperation between the Visegrad Group countries has never been as smooth as with the Scandinavian countries”, the daily notes -

This is not the same Europe [as during Chirac’s times]. Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and even crisis-hit Hungary are not posing such problems to Europe as the countries of the south.

Also the Slovak daily Pravda underlines the presence of Merkel-Hollande at the V4 summit in Warsaw and further reports that "Slovakia will participate in a special Visegrad battle group". The V4 countries signed a letter of intent to set up a joint defence battle group until 2016 composed of approximately 3,000 soldiers. Poland would assure the main part of the unit’s military strength, up to 1,600 soldiers, with the Czech Republic offering mainly paramedics and logistics, while Hungary provides military engineering and Slovakia the expertise on weapons of mass destruction.

According to Malian and Algerian TV, Abu Zeid, one of the principal leaders of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI) has been killed in the Franco-Malian operation in the north-east of Mali.

The unconfirmed news has come at a time when Operation Serval, which was launched by France on January 11, has now entered Ifoghas, a mountainous region close to the Algerian border.

Speaking on French radio, the country's Defence Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, spoke of this sanctuary for Islamic militias, saying, "it's problematic, because you have to comb the ground slowly, metre by metre."

British soldiers may have the length of their tours of duty in Afghanistan extended from six months to nine months in the period leading up to the conclusion of combat operations in 2014.

The plans, currently under consideration by the government, aim to better prepare Afghan soldiers and police to assume security responsibilities after UK forces withdraw.

The initiative comes as the government pursues a policy of dispatching “training missions” to unstable regions. It has aleady sent 300 troops on such missions to West Africa, including 40 to Mali.

In its 2014 budget, the German government is planning to cut spending by €6bn to avoid taking on any new debt. The Ministry of Defence, followed by the Ministry of Transport, will be hardest hit by the belt-tightening measures, at a time when questions are being asked about the scale of Germany’s intervention alongside French forces in Mali.

The Belgian government has given a green light to the deployment of logistics support for French forces in Mali between now and March 1st. The country is sending 75 men, two C-130 transport aircraft and two helicopter ambulances. The Di Rupo government has emphasised that the presence of Belgian troops in combat zones “has been ruled out”.

On the third day of its intervention, the French army has conducted multiple bombing raids in the north and the centre of the country. The strikes have targeted bases used by Islamic groups which took over northern Mali in the wake of the coup which overthrew the country’s central government last March.

In the aftermath of the failed merger between the European aerospace and defence consortium EADS and British defence contractor BAE Systems, French financial daily Les Echos questions Berlin's true intentions. Accused by both Paris and London of having sunk the operation, Les Echos titles its leader article “What does Germany want in Europe?”, all the while recognising that the question is "a little taboo and troubling because it questions the sincerity of Berlin's European commitments.”

Les Echos looks back at a series of red flags that, it claims, show that Germany's European commitment lies in words rather than in deeds –

Germany's European commitment was first contested during the on-going serial of the Eurozone crisis. [...] For the last three years, efforts to establish instruments of financial solidarity stumbled over Berlin's refusals, blocking manoeuvres, procrastination, and oft-repeated hesitations.

The same holds true, according to the leader writer, regarding European energy policy, when –

Germany decided to pull out of nuclear power without any discussion with its neighbours, it was a solitary decision with huge effects on the continent.

And the final episode in the series is "European defence policy fails due to German hesitation" –

The German veto ruins the grand European dream and places the British BAE back into a strategic dead-end. The worst is that allowing Boeing to take control of [BAE] might be the only way out, thus adding insult to injury.

In Germany, the weekly Die Zeit takes a philosophical view of the failure –

The free-for-all around EADS and BAE mostly shows the point to which cultural differences threaten mergers in Europe.

For Die Zeit, Germany's last ditch resistance is a false explanation of the failure: "The real culprit is Rousseau."

The difficulty in merging two businesses like EADS and BAE originates in the 17th Century. At the time, France and Germany developed two very different ideas of property.

An adept of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, France considers that a major industry must submit to the public interest and thus refused to give up its share in EADS (22%, of which 15% is government-held). The British, faithful to John Locke, cultivate a strong sense of private property, but, to support the public interest, were grudgingly willing to accord a 9% stake to the French in the new, post-merger company.

Europe is “under the watchful eye of Chinese pirates”, writes Libération, which picks up on a Bloomberg feature report on computer security breaches. The American press agency reveals that a group of Chinese cyberspies – which has been tracked by an American collective (that includes academics, companies that have been targeted by Chinese espionage and computer security experts) – succeeded in infiltrating a large number of institutions and companies last year.

The group  linked to the Chinese military, which has been named “Byzantine Candor” by American secret services, notably managed to infiltrate European institutions, reports the French daily –

At a critical moment in the euro crisis in July, a group of Chinese spies remotely infiltrated the computers of the European Council, not once but five times. Launching their attacks from China, the hackers stole data including email correspondence with Herman Van Rompuy [...] Along with the European Council, the networks of at least 20 European businesses have fallen victim to Byzantine Candor [...] According to Bloomberg, most of the breached corporate networks were characterised by the fact that they contained information on innovation that could be economically advantageous to Chinese firms.

Libération adds that a decade ago –

... the usual targets for these kinds of attacks were American arms manufacturers [...] However, no one is safe today.

As a result, the drive to combat cyber-espionage is now a critical priority for Europe: notably in Spain, which, according to El País –

... is one of the countries that has been worst affected by hacking attacks, with tens of thousands of incidents every year.

The Madrid daily explains that a new national cybersecurity centre of excellence, financed by the European Commission and headquartered at the Autonomous University of Madrid, will be inaugurated in September. In the wake of the establishment of similar centres in Montpellier (France) and Dublin (Ireland), it will be the third of its kind in the EU.

However, the daily regrets that one of the companies tasked with the creation of the centre, CFLabs, is directed by Matías Bevilacqua –

... an IT expert who was arrested and charged in connection with purchase and sale of confidential data [...] and in particular sensitive information sourced from virtually all of the institutions of the Spanish state.

In conclusion El País wonders about the wisdom of appointing “a hacker to play a key role in such a sensitive project”.

Spain, following the lead of Turkey, Poland and Romania, will participate in NATO's anti-missile shield, Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero, said in a surprise announcement on October 5, in Brussels. "Zapatero cedes Rota," runs a headline in left-leaning Spanish daily Público. Zapatero explained that the naval base at Rota, located in southern Spain, near Cadiz, which is already part of the NATO system, will host a further four US war ships, equipped with anti-missile batteries and as well as 1300 additional US troops. Spain will thus become "a key component of the European defence system," the paper says, adding that "the leftist parties and the pacifist movements reject the decision". Zapatero justifies it saying it will bring some jobs as well as economic benefits to the area, the paper explains. Then, comments on the irony of how the PM got from the "Alliance for Civilisations [a peace initiative] to the anti-missile shield," especially since "in 2001 he was opposed to George W. Bush's plan [for an anti-missile shield] supported by [his predecessor, Conservative José María] Aznar".  Público explains that the means deployed at Rota will be "one of the three pillars" of the shield, aimed at protecting Europe against ballistic missiles coming from Iran or North Korea. The other two pillars include a radar in Turkey and ground-to-air batteries in Poland and Romania. It will be operational as of 2012 and completed in 2018.

"The Netherlands is contributing towards a missile shield," announces NRC Handelsblad. On September 26, the country’s minister of defence announced the installation of the Smart-L radar system on the Netherlands’ four frigates and in its air defence command. These systems are part of NATO’s ALTBMD (Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence), intended to protect the territory of Europe from incoming hostile missiles.

The range of the ultra-modern systems is very high: two frigates, one in the Baltic Sea and one in the Mediterranean, would be enough to cover all of Europe’s airspace. But the project has a price: for the Netherlands, 250 million euros, which be set off against “savings for the ministry of one billion euros" writes the daily. The Netherlands is "the first European country in NATO to contribute significantly" to NATO’s missile shield over the continent, which is independent of the shield that the United States has installed in Romania, Poland and Turkey.

There is no underestimating the weight of the Czech military. “The soldiers are too fat and will have to be given medical treatment,” reports Lidové noviny. According to a study based on medical visits in 2010, half of the 22,000 professional soldiers that are supposed to defend the country are overweight, and one in seven is obese. An order has now been issued for the launch of a “chemical” programme to combat the phenomenon, which is to cost 33 euros per month and per soldier. “Instructing the army to take more physical exercise would have been a more natural and less costly option for the state,” remarks one military doctor quoted by Lidové noviny. The Prague daily also points out that “in a conscription based army, the condition of the soldiers would reflect a slightly soft sample of the general population.” However, in 2004 the Czech Republic established a professional army supposed to have “the honour, responsibility and habits of professional” soldiers. That said, weighty troops are nothing new. The newspaper points out that under Austrian-Hungarian empire, the typical soldier had much in common with “the piggish Baloun” who devoured his lieutenant’s dinner, in the novel The Good Soldier Švejk.

The project was thought to be a dead letter, but France is to determined to revive it: "Paris courts Berlin for naval dockyard alliance," headlines Financial Times Deutschland, which reports that the French and German governments along with the defence giants DCNS (France) and ThyssenKrupp (Germany) are to hold talks on what could become the biggest industrial joint-venture between the two countries since the launch of EADS in 2000. The "maritime EADS," as President Nicolas Sarkozy has dubbed it, will make France responsible for the production of frigates, while Germany will take charge of the construction of submarines.

The proposal has been cautiously welcomed by Berlin, which fears a repeat of the difficulties encountered by Airbus and its manufacturer EADS, which remains subject to the influence of the French state. EADS has been beset by problems arising from the fact that it has "too many production sites, too many arguments over technical issues and slipshod management," remarks FTD, which quotes a German leader who argues that we will have to “face up to the mistakes” that were made at the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company.

"France to withdraw from Afghanistan," headlines Le Figaro. Just hours after President Barack Obama’s announcement that a third of American forces will leave Afghanistan by summer 2012, the Elysée [French president’s office] declared that France will bring home 1,000 of its contingent of 4,000 troops between now and next year. The progressive withdrawal has been motivated by "approaching elections on both sides of the Atlantic," writes the daily. Meanwhile, Le Monde notes that when he was elected, President Nicolas Sarkozy "agreed to reinforce the French contingent, in parallel with the 2009 'surge' in US deployment. Today he is once again obliged to follow in Washington’s footsteps, but without the satisfaction of a mission accomplished."

"Twenty years without the Russians" On June 21, 1991, as Soviet troops left the territory of Czechoslovakia, 100,000 soldiers and their families and all their military equipment rolled out of more than 70 bases. It was a massive logistical undertaking, photographed by Karel Cudlín and published with a report in the weekly Respekt. In Bratislava, the Slovak daily SME draws up the ecological balance twenty years later: "The Russians left devastation behind them…. After the human wreckage that began with the 1968 occupation, the Soviets went on to ravage the landscape for another 23 years," writes the paper, calculating that Slovakia has paid out some 40 million euros in the fight against “ecological disaster", especially pollution from fuels.

“US Army citizen,” headlines Gazeta Wyborcza, reporting that many young Poles with green cards (permanent US residency permits) are joining the American army  to obtain US citizenship. Having completed 14 weeks of training, they are swiftly sent on missions to Afghanistan and Iraq. To date, twenty of them have been killed in action. Dangerous as it may be, many are swayed by the promise of a $1,400 (€975) salary, 30 days of paid holidays, insurance and, most importantly, immediate US citizenship. Under Polish law, it is a crime to serve in a foreign army (without special permission), which is why the Polish Ministry of Defence does not keep figures on the number of Poles recruited by the US military. According to a US Army recruiter cited by the daily, approximately 500 have already signed up and more may follow in their footsteps. “America is the land of dreams and the US army helps to make those dreams come true,” remarks one Polish recruit quoted by Gazeta Wyborcza.

“Military top brass targets De Crem", Belgium’s Defence Minister, headlines De Standaard. In an internal memo, senior officers deplore “the cumulative effect of a disastrous cocktail of numerous missions abroad, a further salvo of cost-cutting to the tune of 35 million euros, downsizing and the absence of investment credits.” Pieter de Crem wants a smaller high performance army, but according to senior figures in the military, “De Crem has ruined the army’s credibility.” On 4 May, Piet De Crem met with his Dutch counterpart Hans Hillen, who is currently faced with similar budgetary issues. The two ministers discussed “increased collaboration” between the armies of both countries. An opinion piece in De Standard  highlights the importance of a European army but notes, which “for the moment, this has only been recognised by smaller countries.” In the meantime, the newspaper argues, more military “integration with the Netherlands could reduce the scope of the problem. We could establish a common navy, or make the Netherlands responsible for the navy.”

“Massive employment cuts in Defence”, reads the front page of NRC Handelsblad. Dutch defence minister Hans Hillen is scheduled to present the government’s austerity programme on 8 April. The evening daily reports expected cuts of €1 billion to the country’s €8.5 billion annual defence budget, which will affect “around 10,000 jobs out of a total of 69,000”. “Half will be forced layoffs, while the other half will come from retirement”. Austerity measures also target military equipment and include plans to reduce the number of F-16 jets and mine-hunting ships. According to De Volkskrant, at the same meeting ministers will also discuss Foreign Affairs minister Uri Rosenthal’s project to close seven embassies and axe 300 civil servant positions.

“Game of battleships!” For Tageszeitung, the scandal that has erupted over the Gorch Fock training vessel will compromise the reputation of the German navy and the country’s up-and-coming Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. On 25 January, a parliamentary report publicised the abusive treatment meted out to cadets on the “legendary tall ship,” where four crew members have died since 2008. “Drunkenness, sexual harassment, and the captain wearing swimming trunks:” the report quoted by the Berlin daily raises the issue of hazing in the German military, and the defence minister’s failure to exercise sufficient control. The pacifist daily argues that the scandal will be “a moment of truth” for Guttenberg who has made no secret of his ambition to become a future German chancellor. It also insists that the Bundeswehr should review its training techniques and internal management procedures.

“Away with military service!": Profil is joining the call for the reform of the army set out on 17 January by the Social Democrats (SPÖ). Following on the recent scrapping of military service next door in Germany, Austria’s SPÖ indeed wants to replace conscription with a form of national guard of 10,000 men expected to respond to disasters and with a professional army of 22,000 soldiers. For the Viennese weekly, military service is outdated. Firstly, because it persists only in three EU countries – Finland, Greece and Cyprus. Secondly, because the new threats of terrorism and cyber warfare make it "absurd to recruit 26,000 young people every year." It’s difficult to say yet whether the reform will be adopted. Evoking the civil war of 1934 and the cost of a professional army (almost double), the Conservatives, who share power with the SPÖ, oppose the idea.

“We are off the hook!” Not surprisingly, Berlin’s alternative pacifist daily Tageszeitung has responded enthusiastically to news that future generations of young Germans will no longer have to worry about military service. On 3 January, the final wave of 12,150 conscripts presented themselves for duty in barracks across the country. After 50 years, military service in Germany will be suspended on 1 July 2011. As a result, the Bundeswehr, which will be reduced by 25%, will employ 185,000 soldiers. TAZ is amazed that the reform, which heralds the end of the “citizens’ army,” which is often described as “one of the cornerstones of democracy” in the country, has been accepted without protest by the German population. The new professional army will involve a greater cost to the taxpayer, notes TAZ, which wonders about the wisdom of undertaking such a transition in a time of economic crisis.

“Tactical nuclear weapons to stay in Europe,” announces De Standaard. The Belgian daily explains that NATO’s new strategic concept, to be approved at a summit scheduled for 19 and 20 November, does not call for the withdrawal of 200 American nuclear weapons located in Europe. Some countries like Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany and Norway believe that “these weapons have no military purpose.” However, given their proximity to Iran and Russia, Turkey and the Baltic countries are staunchly opposed to any withdrawal. De Standaard notes that France is adamant that the Alliance should not be used to promote the cause of nuclear disarmament in Europe.

German Minister of Defence is “Admiral of Trade,” announces Frankfurter Rundschau. On 9 November, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg asserted that “the protection of trade routes and sources of raw materials should be considered from a military perspective.” The remark has sparked controversy because it is similar to a statement made by the then President Horst Köhler last May, which sparked off his resignation amid a flurry of accusations that he was promoting gun-boat diplomacy. “The country, which is the world’s third largest arms exporter, is at pains to insist that the debate on war and peace should be solely determined by ethical criteria,” remarks the daily, which deplores the hypocrisy of German society. According to experts, the only ongoing military campaign which has been undertaken in defence of German economic interests is the anti-piracy operation on the Somalian coast.

“British Army under French orders,” booms the tabloid Daily Express, giving the new agreement between France and Britain to pool military resources a decidedly chilly reception. Was it not French Exocet missiles that sank so many British warships during the Falkland war, it asks. Commander John Muxworthy, of the UK National Defence Association, is even more sceptical: “This is no way to run a country’s defence. In World War Two we were supposed to be standing side by side with the French and then look what happened.” While broadly supportive of the new Entente Cordiale, The Times warns that “Anglo-French military co-operation has an inglorious history." The only unsuccessful military campaign conducted by Britain since 1945 was Suez, a disastrous joint venture with France and Israel.

“Humiliate, strip, threaten: UK military interrogation manuals discovered,” headlines the Guardian, revealing how British interrogators in Iraq have been trained in “techniques that include threats, sensory deprivation and enforced nakedness.” Classified training materials dating from after 2003, discovered by the newspaper, "tell interrogators they should aim to provoke humiliation, insecurity, disorientation, exhaustion, anxiety and fear in the prisoners they are questioning, and suggest ways in which this can be achieved." The daily notes that the practices constitute “an apparent breach of the Geneva conventions,” and points out that "the leak of the material comes at a time when British military detention and interrogation practices are coming under increasing scrutiny."  Several members of British forces are now suspected of responsibility for the murder and manslaughter of Iraqi civilians.

“Sarkozy, Merkel and a strategic game with Russia”, headlines Rzeczpospolita on the Russo-Franco-German summit which began in Deauville 18 October with presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitry Medvedev and chancellor Angela Merkel in attendance. Top of the agenda was the enhanced cooperation on security matters. Dziennik Gazeta Prawna speculates that France and Germany are willing to “forget about the war in Georgia and the cutting off of gas supplies to Ukraine – all in the name of Russia’s europeanisation”. Many countries, including Poland, are worried that the rapprochement with Moscow may weaken Nato, especially if Paris and Berlin started treating Russia on a par with their EU and NATO allies. “We must be careful not to let the fox in the henhouse”, worries the DGP leader, pointing out that until only recently Russia tried to “undermine both organisations”.

The Christian-Democrats "rely on career heroes", announces Die Tageszeitung, with a touch of irony. Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, which had been divided over the question of compulsory military service, has finally decided to move ahead in the direction of reform. While compulsory service will be abolished, the alternative Berlin daily wonders aloud if this is truly "a triumph for the pacifist left". Its answer is a firm nein: "On the contrary, when Germany is called on to take part in a war more than 1,000 km away, (the army) doesn't need a horde of fresh recruits, but rather teams of specialists in security and modern weaponry". The daily concludes that while there may soon be fewer soldiers, in the end they will be much more effective.

“EU leaders to urge closer links with Nato at summit,” reveals the Irish Times. A document drafted for the European Council summit on 16 September presents “closer relations with Nato as a way of exploiting Europe’s bonds with Washington more fully”, especially in economic and strategic spheres, explains the daily. EU diplomacy chief Catherine Ashton will be tasked with implementing the 27 member states’ recommendation. This is a “politically sensitive move” for Ireland, which reaffirmed its neutrality in the second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

"The end of the draft", headlines the Frankfurter Rundschau, following the German Ministry of Defence announcement regarding the "suspension" of universal military service, which "will no longer be compulsory". By 2011, the daily explains, "(Defence minister) Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg hopes to transform the army into an all-volunteer corps and reduce personnel by one third, from its current level of 250,000 soldiers to 163,500". The aim: an army that is "smaller, less costly and more efficient", according to the minister. The announcement has aroused some misgivings from members of the ruling coalition, and if it passes, it would be the greatest military reform since the Second World War. So while it will no longer be compulsory, chancellor Angela Merkel has, for the time being, decided that the provisions concerning military service will nonetheless remain in the Constitution.

"The Russian spy affair". Respekt leads off with the case of Robert Rakhardzho, a Russian psychologist who has collaborated since 2003 with Moscow's secret services. A "veritable star in his own right", he successfully managed to infiltrate the ranks of the Czech army while assuming a high post in their prison system. With the help of his girlfriend, a military psychologist who had contacts with three generals, he was able to collect information on the activities of the military leadership in Prague. Both were recently relieved of their duties, and Rakhardzho has since returned to Russia. Respekt noites that while demonstrating how easy it was for Moscow to destabilise one of the former Soviet satellites that is now a NATO member, the scandal has at least obliged the Czech army, mired in several corruption cases, to put its house in order.

"The United States have brought the Czech Republic into the missile defence network", reveals Hospodářské noviny. According to Prague's economic daily, the White House has officially confirmed the Czech Republic's participation in the missile defence shield project based in Europe. Congress could allocate as much as $2.2m (€1.7m) extra to the Pentagon this year for the construction of "an early warning outpost" to detect enemy ballistic missiles. "It is important for the American system", slated to be under construction until 2020, "to be an integral part of NATO's missile defence", notes Karel Schwarzenberg, Czech foreign minister, quoted by the paper.

A few days following the publication of American documents on the war in Afghanistan by the site Wikileaks, "Portuguese military secrets have also been revealed on the web", reports the Diário de Notícias. Documents of the Republican National Guard (GNR) dating from 2004 pertaining to the activities of al-Qaeda and the Iranian secret service in Iraq, and even on Tony Blair's political choices, have been discovered on the same site by the Lisbon daily. A GNR spokesperson quoted by the paper downplayed the leaks, noting that six years have already passed, and that "the documents contain no particularly pertinent strategic information".

For the first time in 2011, Sweden will assume command of Nordic Battlegroup 2, one of the 18 battlegroups that make up the European Rapid Reaction Force. The battlegroups are supposed to maintain readiness for deployment within ten days and a four month tour of duty in conflict zones. Most of their missions, which mainly involve providing assistance to civilian populations, are authorised by a mandate from the UN. However, Dagens Nyheter reports that Nordic Battlegroup 1, which was created in 2007 and placed under Swedish command, was never deployed. Although Europe's battlegroups "are an ideal force for the protection of populations, or the halting of ethnic cleansing,"  their deployment is often blocked by a lack of political will, and member states' reluctance to provide troops. The daily concludes that the idea of a "rapid" reaction force will remain a misnomer because "the UN is too slow and ponderous, and the United States follows its own agenda."