The focus o­n the strong anti-war sentiment throughout the world seems to have obscured some other equally, if not more critical aspects of a shifting global balance of power that may be of strategic significance in future.

I have explored o­ne such aspect - the defence cooperation and military pacts between the Muslim-predominated Gulf states o­n o­ne hand, and the Anglo-American forces o­n the other in my past article.

However, another critical aspect is the various degrees of politico-diplomatic support and defence cooperation between the US and UK o­n o­ne hand, and the majority of the European states o­n the other.

Already there are more European governments supporting the US and UK compared with the combined opposition of the French, German, Russian, Luxemburg, Belgian and Austrian governments.

Pro-war European governments

The top leaders of eight European countries signed and issued a joint statement o­n Jan 30, expressing their solidarity with the US in its campaign to disarm the Saddam Hussein government. It said that the "regime" is a "clear threat to world security".

The eight signatories are British premier Tony Blair, Spanish premier Jose Maria Aznar, Portuguese premier Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, Czech president Vaclav Havel, Hungarian premier Peter Medgyessy, Polish premier Leszek Miller and Danish premier Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

They were joined by another 10 countries o­n Feb 18 - Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Geographically and geopolitically, the European friends and allies of the US are strategically located to the west and east, as well as north and south of the Franco-German hardcore which is essentially land-based.

These 18 European countries not o­nly geopolitically flank France and Germany, but also interpose between France and Germany o­n o­ne hand and Russia o­n the other.

While France is o­ne of the major maritime powers in the Mediterranean Sea, its strength is reduced when pitted against the combined forces of the others - US, UK, Spain and Italy, all of which are united o­n the pro-war position.

Among the 18 US allies in Europe, the most active and vocal duo are UK and Spain. Both attempted to co-sponsor a second UN Security Council resolution with the US and their prime ministers, Tony Blair and Jose Maria Aznar met US president George W Bush last Sunday in the Portuguese island of Azores in the Atlantic for an Iraq crisis summit.

While the direct contribution of Spain to the military build-up in the Gulf region is believed to be not significant, the Spanish (and for that matter, Italian) airports, air bases and sea ports are critical transit and logistical points for the movements of Anglo-American troops and equipment in the Mediterranean Sea, which is also strategically linked to the Red Sea by the Suez Canal.

Two Spanish warships' discovery of 15 Scud missiles and drums of chemical o­n board a North Korean cargo ship So San near the Horn of Africa in the Arabian Sea last December, reinforces this point. The warships reportedly acted o­n tip-off from US intelligence and intercepted (with warning shots) the cargo ship. The missiles were to have been sold to Yemen by North Korea "for defensive purposes".

Stepping stones for US

Looking at a larger geopolitical map, the Anglo-American sub-alliance with Portugal, Spain and Italy has secured facilities and logistical support-system for the uninterrupted and speedy movements of forces from the US and UK homelands to the Gulf and Middle Eastern region, via the Mediterranean Sea.

For example, Bulgaria, another staunch supporter of the Anglo-American pro-war position in the UN Security Council, shares a 240km land border with Turkey.

The western neighbour of Spain, Portugal is also staunchly pro-US and, as mentioned above, hosted the venue of the Anglo-American-Spanish summit o­n the Azores islands. o­ne of the mid-Atlantic islands, Terceira, where the summit was held, is also host to a US air base since 1951.

Incidentally, the choice of a mid-Atlantic island for the summit is not o­nly practical in terms of safety but also symbolic, to reaffirm, at this moment of global disorder, the trans-Atlantic solidarity which provided international order in the periods between 1917-1919 and 1939-1945.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia have reportedly already committed some specialist troops in Kuwait and possibly other strategic parts of the Gulf region to assist in civil defence against any possible nuclear, chemical and biological retaliatory attacks expected to be launched by Saddam Hussein in the event US launches its proposed war against Iraq.

In addition, Slovakia has also approved Allied aircraft to use its airspace.

Romania has also reportedly committed to send about 300 non-combat soldiers, including policing, medical and decontamination personnel. It has also allowed its air bases and other infrastructures to be used by Allied troops.

In Hungary, its Taszar Air Base has been used by the US to train Iraqi dissidents for insertion into Iraq. They are reportedly going to be deployed for non-combat duties such as road guides, interpreters and para-medical personnel.

According to reports in BBC and the Voice of America (VOA), the total number of such Iraqis to be trained is about 3,000.

Although the Netherlands has not publicly signed any statement of support for the US, it is reported to have already approved Anglo-American use of its airspace, military bases and sea ports. A defensive missile system was installed in Turkey recently by the Dutch army.

Sweden and Finland seem to be striving to maintain a balance between the Anglo-American and Franco-German camps, but Sweden has expelled some Iraqi diplomats whom the US accuse of being spies. Hungary, Australia, Romania and the Philippines, among others, have also acceded to the same request by the US.

Besides demonstrating that the US pro-war position is not as isolated as popularly perceived, such sub-alliance as outlined above would be the 'launchpad' for the Anglo-American doctrine of 'pre-emptive strike', as the obviously split North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) looks set to remain a conventionally defensive alliance for many years to come.

JAMES WONG WING o­n is chief analyst of Strategic Analysis Malaysia (SAM). Wong is a former member of Parliament (1990-1995) and a former columnist for the Sin Chew Jit Poh Chinese daily (now Sin Chew Daily ). He read political science and economics at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. While in Sin Chew , he and a team of journalists won the top awards of Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) for 1998 and 1999.