A Russian view: No Winners at NATO summit

This is from Moscownewsweekly.
Notice that the issue of more troops for Afghanistan does not even register on the Russian radar. The response to the expansion of NATO is rather muted. Although Georgia's and Ukraine's bid to join has been delayed it is still to go ahead eventually. Notice how Russia will use the recent Kosovo unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo to lever recognition of Abkazia and South Ossetia. This seems to be off the radar in the U.S. for the mainstream press.
It will be interesting to see what will happen at the meeting between Bush and Putin on Sunday. Will Bush look into Putin's soul again?


No Winners at NATO Summit

The NATO summit in the Romanian capital Bucharest failed to fulfill the hopes of former Soviet republics Georgia and Ukraine to get into the alliance's Membership Action Plan. Despite pressure from the U.S. president and support from the United Kingdom and Canada, both Germany and France opposed the expansion plans, citing the possible aggravation of relations with Russia, which are already strained due to U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in Czech Republic and Poland.





President George W. Bush "departed from the summit agenda" by presenting U.S. arguments for the bloc's expansion into the territory of the former Soviet Union. He said that the countries that had chosen the path of democracy must be given NATO protection through formal membership if these countries want it.

However, Germany and France argued that polls in Ukraine had shown that the support of NATO membership in the country was below 30 percent, and that Georgia had not solved its territorial disputes with the self-proclaimed states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

"We are convinced that it is too early to grant both states the action plan status," German chancellor Angela Merkel said.

"I would be happy to be proved wrong, but I do not expect MAP for Georgia and Ukraine," The Associated Press news agency quoted NATO spokesman James Appathurai as saying on Wednesday night.

Georgia did not hide its disappointment over the development.

"A ‘no' for Georgia will show those people in the Kremlin who think that by a policy of blackmail, by arrogance and aggression" they can influence NATO's decisions, Georgia's Foreign Minister David Bakradze told The Associated Press.

In Russia, the news was received with muted enthusiasm. In fact, the lower house of the Duma invited Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to a session and asked him to explain what they called the "foreign policy of retreat."

Lavrov said he did not agree with the opinion that Russia continues to retreat in its foreign policy. "It is impossible not to see Russia's growing influence in the World," Lavrov said. "We have understood, probably before many others have, what our real interests are based on our real opportunities in the modern world."

Russia, which is strongly opposed to NATO expansion eastwards, said that it could satisfy Abkhazian and South Ossetian requests for recognition after many Western states recognized the independence of Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo.

Duma members called upon the minister to increase cooperation with the military in preparing a potential response to NATO expansion, but Lavrov said any reciprocal measures would be more in the economic sphere.

He said that Russia must concentrate on its economic might and thus ensure its defense capability. "We will react pragmatically, not like small boys in school ... who run out of classroom and cry in the corner," the minister said.

However, President Bush still has a chance to makes his case and attempt tot change Russia's attitude to NATO expansion during his upcoming visit to Russia on Sunday.

The U.S. president will hold talks with outgoing President Vladimir Putin in the latter's summer residence in the resort town of Sochi. The talks are expected to focus on missile defense, but the two leaders will certainly touch upon other subjects. Also on Sunday, Bush is expected to hold a brief meeting with president-elect Dmitry Medvedev.

By Kirill Bessonov