Danish Secretary General

The US has found a new NATO leader

The most likely candidate for the post of new NATO Secretary General is 56-year-old Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. On this figure, a compromise between the United States and the main European allies has “already been reached,” a diplomatic source in one of the NATO member countries told Vremya Novostey on condition of anonymity. Decisive for Rasmussen was his meeting a week ago with the US Presidential Assistant for National Security, retired General James Jones: “The Dane removed all questions.” Today, Rasmussen “leads by a large margin” on the list of candidates, assures the Western diplomat.

Since January 2004, the post of NATO Secretary General has been occupied by 60-year-old Dutchman Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. His term expires on July 31. It is expected that the name of his successor will be announced before the anniversary NATO summit on April 3-4, but the intrigue around this has been going on since last fall. In November, the German magazine Der Spiegel for the first time named the candidacies of two Poles - Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and ex-President Aleksander Kwasniewski. Soon the figure of Des Brown, the former British Minister of Defense, surfaced in the media. Then Bulgaria nominated former Foreign Minister Solomon Passi. And only at the beginning of March rumors began to spread: Paris, London and Berlin suggested to Washington the candidacy of Rasmussen.

The post of NATO Secretary General is usually occupied by a European. However, the Washington Post recently claimed that US Vice President Joseph Biden is ready, in a break with tradition, to propose the candidacy of Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay in exchange for the transfer of two command posts to the French. According to VN’s interlocutor, until recently McKay and Sikorsky “were considered as serious candidates.” But now they are in question: “the first is too inexperienced, the second does not enjoy the full confidence of Washington.” But Rasmussen is “the optimal figure: he is a supporter of a strong Europe and supports the US campaign in Iraq and Afghanistan.” True, Rasmussen is now reminded that during the scandal surrounding the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005, he spoke out in support of press freedom. Therefore, a negative reaction from the Muslim world to his possible appointment is guaranteed.

For Russia, the figure of the new NATO Secretary General “is not of great importance,” believes Alexander Khramchikhin, head of the analytical department of the Russian Institute of Political and Military Analysis. “No one can stop the trend toward degradation of the alliance, although our propaganda presents it as a monster that encircles us,” the expert said in an interview with VN. According to him, “Sikorsky might have tried to give some kind of impetus to NATO. But Poland is the most anti-Russian country in the bloc, so it would be better if it were Danish.”

Boris YUNANOV