Anti-NATO protesters waving the Soviet flag did not celebrate Albania and Croatia joining the alliance (Photo: EUobserver)..."You have very well earned your place at the table," outgoing NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told Albanian and Croatian delegations at the opening of the NATO council on Saturday morning in Strasbourg. Mr Scheffer said that the move is testimony to the countries' long years of reforms and a proof of the "open-door policy" of NATO enlargement. US President Barack Obama, himself for the first time at a NATO summit, thanked the pair for sending 140 Albanian and 296 Croatian troops to Afghanistan - a considerable contribution for the two small Balkan states of 3 and 4.5 million people, respectively....NATO leaders failed to achieve any progress on Macedonian membership, which remains pending because of the country's name dispute with Greece....As for the next countries in line for NATO membership, Georgia and Ukraine, leaders are expected to repeat what they said last year in Bucharest - that the two states would eventually join, once they fulfill criteria.
..."You have very well earned your place at the table," outgoing NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told Albanian and Croatian delegations at the opening of the NATO council on Saturday morning in Strasbourg.
Mr Scheffer said that the move is testimony to the countries' long years of reforms and a proof of the "open-door policy" of NATO enlargement.
US President Barack Obama, himself for the first time at a NATO summit, thanked the pair for sending 140 Albanian and 296 Croatian troops to Afghanistan - a considerable contribution for the two small Balkan states of 3 and 4.5 million people, respectively.
...NATO leaders failed to achieve any progress on Macedonian membership, which remains pending because of the country's name dispute with Greece.
...As for the next countries in line for NATO membership, Georgia and Ukraine, leaders are expected to repeat what they said last year in Bucharest - that the two states would eventually join, once they fulfill criteria.
Hundreds of demonstrators also torched tyres, smashed windows and ransacked shops in an escalation of rioting during a summit of Nato leaders in the French city of Strasbourg. The worst of the violence was centred close to the French side of the Bridge of Europe - a road link over the river Rhine which connects France with Germany. The bridge is 5 km (3 miles) from the conference centre where 28 Nato leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, were meeting, and a pall of black smoke was clearly visible from the summit venue.Reuters television crews said youths had set fire to an Ibis hotel, a one-storey border post and a third building that was not immediately identified. A German first aide volunteer said around 50 people had been hurt in the clashes with riot police. The demonstrators campaigning to have Nato disbanded following the end of the Cold War, had vowed to disrupt Saturday's meeting after two days of skirmishes with police. However, organisers said they had wanted a peaceful protest and expressed shock at the violence. "I am very angry. This was meant to be a peaceful demonstration ... and tonight, instead of images of peace we will see images of war," said Marie-George Buffet, a veteran leader of the French Communist party.
Hundreds of demonstrators also torched tyres, smashed windows and ransacked shops in an escalation of rioting during a summit of Nato leaders in the French city of Strasbourg.
The worst of the violence was centred close to the French side of the Bridge of Europe - a road link over the river Rhine which connects France with Germany.
The bridge is 5 km (3 miles) from the conference centre where 28 Nato leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, were meeting, and a pall of black smoke was clearly visible from the summit venue.
Reuters television crews said youths had set fire to an Ibis hotel, a one-storey border post and a third building that was not immediately identified.
A German first aide volunteer said around 50 people had been hurt in the clashes with riot police.
The demonstrators campaigning to have Nato disbanded following the end of the Cold War, had vowed to disrupt Saturday's meeting after two days of skirmishes with police.
However, organisers said they had wanted a peaceful protest and expressed shock at the violence.
"I am very angry. This was meant to be a peaceful demonstration ... and tonight, instead of images of peace we will see images of war," said Marie-George Buffet, a veteran leader of the French Communist party.
It could have turned tragic:
In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
