Posted on 03/07/2006 7:59:47 PM PST by Panerai
Under the agreement on the location of U.S. military facilities in Romania, the United States can launch an attack from Romanian territory without knowledge or approval of the Romanian authorities.
Parliament's joint defense and foreign policy committees discussed the accord yesterday with representatives of the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The agreement, signed last year by Foreign Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu and visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on December 6 last year, allows U.S. troops access to four Romanian military bases.
Mihai Kogalniceanu in Constanta will be the most important U.S. military base, as it will become the headquarters for the U.S. military's new Eastern European Task Force. The other three locations will be mostly used as training facilities.
According to Ungureanu when the accord was signed, the document includes principles guaranteeing that the facilities cannot be used in purposes contrary to legislation and international treaties Romania is part of.
Under the accord, Romania will give up its jurisdiction over possible offences committed by members of the U.S. military on its territory. Also, the bases will be mostly used for training and equipment storage and, in case of necessity, for troop stationing. The first troops are expected to arrive next summer.
Until then, Parliament has to ratify the accord. During yesterday's session, the head of Senate's foreign policy committee, Social Democrat Mircea Geoana, and the head of the defense committee, Liberal Senator Norica Nicolai, asked for clarification regarding the possibility of launching a U.S. attack from the bases to be set up in Romania.
The two lawmakers also required explanations on whether the bases Romania will host may be included in a global military program, such as the anti-missile shield.
(Excerpt) Read more at daily-news.ro ...
Now we have better access to bomb Russia and Iran.
Great article.
Thank you Romania for standing up against Terrorists and standing by our side.
Thanks for the ping.:)
Cause they've been there, they know what it's all about.
I actually don't like that. You'd think we'd have a Romanian liaison officer, and we should at least tell him when we're going to launch an attack from Romanian soil. Launching an attack without any notice could put our ally in an embarrassing situation.
Under the accord, Romania will give up its jurisdiction over possible offences committed by members of the U.S. military on its territory.
That's standard fare. We have SOFA (Status of Forces Agreements) wherever we have troops stationed.
"the United States can launch an attack from Romanian territory without knowledge or approval of the Romanian authorities."
Freedom ?
Did they elect their leader fair-n-square?
"According to Ungureanu when the accord was signed, the document includes principles guaranteeing that the facilities cannot be used in purposes contrary to legislation and international treaties Romania is part of."
Is there a clause in their constitution that would allow them to seek redress through ballot-initiative or contitutional amendment that would allow them to seek a US pullout, if they decide the base is no longer in the best interests of their people?
A lengthy approvals process might hinder a pre-emptive strike if a 'clear and present danger' to either the US or Romania is identified, no?
This is pretty much the standard agreement that we have for anyone who has a US base. This is the reason we're pulling out of Turkey. They wouldn't let us launch against Iraq.
This statement make me laugh, how any country could seriously sign that kind of agreements?
I can already imagine how Clinton type of guy becomes US president and without knowledge of Romanians starts bombing their Moldavian brothers to resettle Trandnister conflict. :-) Hopefully it is just mine weird fantasy…
"the United States can launch an attack from Romanian territory without knowledge or approval of the Romanian authorities."
This statement make me laugh, how any country could seriously sign that kind of agreements?==
Some countries are not equal to others.
Isn't it the same situation like with Rammstein AFB in Germany?
I'm not sure whether German authorities have a right not to approve American attack launched from that base.
I agree.
I have had the opportunity to meet several Romainians. They seem to be a great people. I like them very much. They and the Poles know what it is like to suffer under the bootheel and they seem to be serious about not letting it happen again. Good on them! If the US is smart we will cultivate both of them.
I couldn't agree more.
I have met both Poles and Romanians and I have the highest respect for them,because they have overcome a lot and are still working on making things better for their countries.
Romania has a nearly 2000-year history, and people over there don't forget stuff that was said only fifteen years ago. We gotta make it clear that the real Americans are in charge here now (if even that is true) before they will have a warm fuzzy about this kind of deal.
Of course not; it doesn't fit the template: "America has no friends because of Bush"
Looks like Romania, true to its past, is still on the front lines, protecting the West against the hordes of Islam.
The Americans are kept to inform us if they start any attacks from our soil. During the recent Iraq war there was a fierce discussion among the left in Germany if the -at then Schroeder- gouvernment should not interdict any use of German bases for acts of war associated with Iraq because we had nothing to do with it. Since NATO would have been torn to pieces in that case Schroeder abstained.
Anyway the Americans reacted quite sour on the German stance concerning the Iraq war and will reduce their deployment to something around 27.000 soldiers (compared to roundabout 300.000 during the cold war) until 2014 as far as I know. In the meantime they are that thinned out through the Iraq war that the German army, the Bundeswehr, has to guard their abandoned facilities. Not very impressing after all. This is a good development for everybody. The German public on one hand is not willing to be the "aircraft carrier" of the US anymore, the US on the other are not willing to spend bazillions of dollars in old Europe. This is one of the reasons why they start to deploy new bases in Romania or elsewhere. Besides - is there any planned deployment in Poland? Your country would be perfect since nobody's feelings in Europe are that close to America than those of the Poles.
Personally I do not think that is is very foresighted to take the Romanians to the cleaners. Such agreements are simply not fair. Not later than the Americans are not welcome anymore for reasons we do not know in the moment, the Romanian public will put immense pressure on its gouvernment and the other Europeans to get rid of the US deployment again. Maybe you can remember what happend in the late 80ties and eary 90ties on the Phillipines. The US had two really large bases there: Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base. The public did not accept the American presence anymore for various reasons. The Philippine Senate rejected an extension of the Military Bases Agreement and the bases were transferred to the Philippine government on November 26, 1991 (besides - it has nothing to do with the catastrophic erpution of Mt. Pinatubo in June 1991). The US had to leave although there was for sure great interest of the DoD to maintain the bases since they were the backbone to all US operations in South East Asia with their excellent infrastructure. Something like Ramstein in Europe today.
Forgot to ping you because of too much Italian red wine last evening... Baaawwwwaaaahhhhh.
Look at my #38.
As to American deployments to Poland - the only serious thing I've heard of is the European part of anti-missile shield (it may be located in the Tatra mountains).
I think more realistic location for new American "regular" bases in Europe are the Balkans - Romania and Bulgaria, as they are relatively close to today's hot spots.
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