Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Wall Street Journal
April 1, 2008
Pg. 10
Russia Seeks to Stop Georgia, Ukraine From Joining Group
By John D. McKinnon
KIEV, Ukraine -- This week's NATO summit is shaping up as a showdown between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Putin plans to come to the meeting in Bucharest, Romania, hoping to defeat a U.S.-backed initiative to give Georgia and Ukraine inside tracks to membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A Russian official suggested the plan would amount to "destroying" the strategic balance of power in Europe.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pleaded for flexibility from Western nations, telling reporters, "You cannot make it a single-way road. Generally, it takes two to tango."
The Russian comments also appeared to diminish some expectations for a one-on-one meeting this weekend between Messrs. Bush and Putin at the Russian president's Black Sea resort home in Sochi.
The White House hopes to work out a framework at that meeting for resolving a number of issues between the two countries, particularly a U.S.-designed missile-shield system to be built in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Russia views that proposed system with suspicion, fearing it could eventually be used to undermine its own security.
But Mr. Peskov said Russia was in no hurry to reach a deal with Mr. Bush on missile security.
"The work [on missile defense] is very complicated, and we are not going to...set any deadlines," he said. "We still believe the best way to solve problems is to get rid of [the] plans...But we appreciate the effort...from our dancing partners."
White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley said the Sochi meeting might not produce an immediate agreement on the missile-shield issue. "It may not get done by Sochi," he conceded. "But, hey, if we don't have it by Sochi, we'll keep working it."
The NATO membership issues are to be discussed at Bucharest along with renewed commitments to the conflict in Afghanistan. Georgia and Ukraine have been loyal supporters of Mr. Bush, and Georgia is expected to be among the nations adding troops to the conflict in Afghanistan later this week.
Mr. Hadley suggested that in addition to more troops, NATO would begin to focus more on counterterrorism and economic development in Afghanistan -- in effect settling in for a long struggle.
"I think what people are recognizing is this is...going to take us a pretty long while to get this done," he said. Until Afghanistan can better wage its own fight, "we're going to have to have more of a counterinsurgency focus, which means an issue about levels of troops, what those troops do and how to link them up with the civilian assets -- institution-building, reconstruction, economic assistance, jobs that are required -- to stabilize that situation over the long-term. And that's the thing I think you're going to see the Alliance beginning to step up and grapple with."
Even Russia has suggested that it would be willing to consider some form of assistance for the NATO effort. The offer has been perceived as a way of softening its hard-line opposition to further NATO expansion.
But with Russia's influence on the rise, many Western European countries that are dependent on Russia for energy are reluctant to oppose it over the NATO membership issues.
April 1, 2008
Pg. 10
Russia Seeks to Stop Georgia, Ukraine From Joining Group
By John D. McKinnon
KIEV, Ukraine -- This week's NATO summit is shaping up as a showdown between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Putin plans to come to the meeting in Bucharest, Romania, hoping to defeat a U.S.-backed initiative to give Georgia and Ukraine inside tracks to membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A Russian official suggested the plan would amount to "destroying" the strategic balance of power in Europe.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pleaded for flexibility from Western nations, telling reporters, "You cannot make it a single-way road. Generally, it takes two to tango."
The Russian comments also appeared to diminish some expectations for a one-on-one meeting this weekend between Messrs. Bush and Putin at the Russian president's Black Sea resort home in Sochi.
The White House hopes to work out a framework at that meeting for resolving a number of issues between the two countries, particularly a U.S.-designed missile-shield system to be built in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Russia views that proposed system with suspicion, fearing it could eventually be used to undermine its own security.
But Mr. Peskov said Russia was in no hurry to reach a deal with Mr. Bush on missile security.
"The work [on missile defense] is very complicated, and we are not going to...set any deadlines," he said. "We still believe the best way to solve problems is to get rid of [the] plans...But we appreciate the effort...from our dancing partners."
White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley said the Sochi meeting might not produce an immediate agreement on the missile-shield issue. "It may not get done by Sochi," he conceded. "But, hey, if we don't have it by Sochi, we'll keep working it."
The NATO membership issues are to be discussed at Bucharest along with renewed commitments to the conflict in Afghanistan. Georgia and Ukraine have been loyal supporters of Mr. Bush, and Georgia is expected to be among the nations adding troops to the conflict in Afghanistan later this week.
Mr. Hadley suggested that in addition to more troops, NATO would begin to focus more on counterterrorism and economic development in Afghanistan -- in effect settling in for a long struggle.
"I think what people are recognizing is this is...going to take us a pretty long while to get this done," he said. Until Afghanistan can better wage its own fight, "we're going to have to have more of a counterinsurgency focus, which means an issue about levels of troops, what those troops do and how to link them up with the civilian assets -- institution-building, reconstruction, economic assistance, jobs that are required -- to stabilize that situation over the long-term. And that's the thing I think you're going to see the Alliance beginning to step up and grapple with."
Even Russia has suggested that it would be willing to consider some form of assistance for the NATO effort. The offer has been perceived as a way of softening its hard-line opposition to further NATO expansion.
But with Russia's influence on the rise, many Western European countries that are dependent on Russia for energy are reluctant to oppose it over the NATO membership issues.