Lack of threat from Russia stumps NATO - analyst

MOSCOW, September 3 (RIA Novosti) - The lack of a genuine threat from Russia makes it far harder for NATO to decide on its polices than during the Cold War, a Moscow-based analyst said on Thursday.

It would be "ideal" for the Western military alliance if Russia posed the same kind of military threat as the Soviet Union did in its time - "then everything would fall into place," Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the Russia in Global Affairs quarterly, said.

NATO accomplished its mission when the Soviet Union broke up and is now looking for a new raison d'etre, he said. However, "it will be unable to adjust to the new situation" since NATO is "by definition a regional organization," while the existing threats are "global."

The alliance is looking for a new global role, but attempts to "turn NATO into a global organization have failed." As for Russia, it "has ceased being an enemy but has not become an ally" and is unlikely to become one in the foreseeable future.

Therefore, everything will remain more or less unchanged - in a state of "symbolic confrontation" between Russian and NATO with elements of "cooperation in some areas and a vacuum in others."

Ties between Moscow and the Western military bloc were frozen after last August's war with Georgia, and resumed in June this year.

NATO and the West condemned Russia's "excessive" use of force against Georgia and its recognition of two breakaway regions. Moscow, long concerned about the bloc's ongoing expansion, accused NATO of nurturing Georgian aggression.