Bucharest summit

If Macedonia's new government, elected on Wednesday, works hard on democratization and leaves nationalism aside, it could use more favourable geopolitical circumstances to get an invitation to join NATO, political observers say.

Several NATO sources on Wednesday said that the strategic military alliance would join the US-led coalition against the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" (IS) armed group, according to Deutsche Welle.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a news conference after the NATO Force Integration Unit inauguration in Vilnius, Lithuania, September 3, 2015. - Photo: REUTERS / Ints Kalnins

The number of devices connected to the Internet worldwide will triple by 2020, to more than 50 billion units, US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews told the second day of the Regional Cyber Security Summit in Bucharest.

Photo credit: (c) Alex MICSIK / AGERPRES PHOTO

Calls mount for NATO enlargement

Faster accession to NATO would insulate Balkan states from Russian influence, experts say.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, seen at a NATO meeting on Ukraine, aims to refocus attention on Balkan security, a Skopje analyst says. [AFP]

Russia is highly likely to intervene in the Baltic states to test NATO's collective defence commitment, the former head of the Atlantic alliance was quoted as saying by Britain's Daily Telegraph on Feb. 6.
      
"This is not about Ukraine. Putin wants to restore Russia to its former position as a great power," Anders Fogh Rasmussen told the daily.
      

NATO won't offer Montenegro membership this year

BRUSSELS -- Montenegro and Georgia will not be invited to join NATO this year, Secretary General of Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Wednesday.

Foreign Affairs Minister Titus Corlatean met a US Congress delegation on Sunday; he pointed out to Senators John McCain, Ron Johnson and Christopher Murphy the political relevance of the Romania-US Strategic Partnership on the regional level, and the importance of Romania's position on NATO's eastern flank, within the current security context.

Russia has withdrawn most of the some 40,000 troops it had massed on the Ukraine border and those remaining are preparing to pull out, a NATO military official said Tuesday.
      

Russia and NATO are to hold talks over the situation in Ukraine on Monday's joint session in Brussels.

The meeting at an ambassadorial level called by Moscow comes after the alliance froze on April 1 all cooperation within the NATO-Russia Council except political dialogue between high representatives.