NATO Nixes Bush On Expansion Plans

By Cernig

As expected, Bush took a major bashing at the NATO summit over his insistence that Georgia and Ukraine should be admitted to the military alliance. Germany and France blackballed both nations, which have ongoing problems with internecine conflicts and feuds with neighbours. If they had joined NATO, the existing members would have been legally obligated to involve themselves in the former Soviet nation's local wars.

It was a sour outcome for Bush at his final NATO summit as he sought to polish his foreign policy legacy. Instead, he wound up sidetracked by opposition and splits among European allies. It was a result that was foreshadowed by public statements from France and Germany but Bush nevertheless put his prestige on the line and even made a stop in Ukraine on Monday to argue his case.

"We are convinced that it is too early to grant both states the (pre-membership) status," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said as she arrived in Bucharest for the summit. It only takes one NATO member to block a decision, because policy-making is reached by consensus.

However, that France and Germany weren't just scared by the spectre of Russian displeasure is proven by a unanimous accord from the NATO nations on Bush's missile defense plans.

"Now it is clearly understood in the alliance that the challenges of the 21st century, the threats of the 21st century, make it necessary to have missile defense that can defend the countries of Europe," Rice told reporters at the NATO summit.

Progress on missile defense represented perhaps the biggest boon to Bush from the NATO summit. Russia has fiercely opposed it.

Rice also noted that NATO has "also asked Russia to stop its criticism of the alliance effort and to join in the cooperative efforts that have been offered to it by the United States."

A NATO statement calls on the alliance to explore ways in which the planned U.S. project, to be based in Poland and the Czech Republic, can be linked with future missile shields elsewhere. It says leaders should come up with recommendations to be considered at their next meeting in 2009.

Cynically, the drawbacks of admitting Ukraine and Georgia were obvious to European nations - but missile defense plans apparently accord well with their own domestic self-interests.

It remains to be seen if that's a good decision. Neoconservative think-tanks linked closely with Bush administration policymaking - and now just as closely with McCain's policy plans - have made little secret of their advocacy for a full "weapons in space reincarnation of Reagan's Star Wars programs. That isn't just a smallish program aimed at rogue states, but rather a network of missile shield measures designed to erode Russia's nuclear deterrence - and is likely to elicit a very different reaction from European states (and from Russia, natch) once their publics figure out what's really intended.

Comments

[1MaNLan]

"That isn't just a smallish program aimed at rogue states, but rather a network of missile shield measures designed to erode Russia's nuclear deterrence - and is likely to elicit a very different reaction from European states (and from Russia, natch) once their publics figure out what's really intended".

Ah yes. Nuclear primacy. Much like the theory of the "cauldronization" of the middle east. Just as ignorant, but much, much more deadly. We can hit them but they can't touch us, so nyah, nyah, nyah. Hegemonic wet dreams for frustrated, playground bullies...and hard cash for weapons manufacturers, of course. Everyone wins with this plan, except for everyone else.

If the Russians perceive that the US is capable of, and moving towards primacy, wouldn't their only real option (short of surrender...ain't gonna happen) be a massive first strike? Suddenly, a Russian policy of preemptive attack on the US, to preempt a US preemptive attack on Russia, no longer seems the stuff of dark comedy. This is MAD gone insane.

[Steve Hynd]

Good comment, 1MaN! Absolutely bang on.

Regards, C