Headed for a
NATO train wreck?: Greeks rally against the admission of
Macedonia to
NATO. The reason? … Athens insists Macedonia change
its name …
Novosti, Russia
'Dishes May
Brake' at
NATO's Next
Summit
"Germany
could potentially 'break lots of dishes' … The U.S. and Britain have been
unable to persuade Berlin to send German Army units to the south - where there
is a real war. … The Greeks are threatening to ruin the picture with an issue
that seems extremely ridiculous ... The Greeks are flatly refusing to permit
Macedonia's entry into NATO until it changes its name. Greece argues that
Macedonia is part of northern Greece, is the birthplace of Alexander the Great,
and that it won't allow anyone to take that glorious name away from them!"
By Andrei Fedyashin
Translated By Igor Medvivev
March 3, 2008
Russia - Novosti -
Original Article (Russian)
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Condi at the NATO foreign minister's meeting on
March 6. Georgia and Unkraine had their hopes for membership dashed - for
now.
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MOSCOW: So, NATO foreign
ministers at a working meeting in Brussels decided - for the time being - not
to add Georgia and Ukraine to the Membership Action Plan. The plan represents
something like a formal "road map" for NATO. By following the road
signs and landmarks, potential candidates should eventually reach the gates of
alliance headquarters in Brussels. But Ukraine and Georgia haven't made it to
the roadside yet. That decision was taken at a NATO meeting on March 6, which
was called to discuss the upcoming NATO summit in April in Bucharest.
NATO, it must be said, hasn't
given up on plans to bring Yushchenko's Kiev and Saakashvili's Tbilisi into the
alliance. Rather, this is a postponement. In practice it means that they won't
be any closer to NATO for at least a year, and so can't become members for at
least another four years. The arithmetic is simple: implementing the plan's
requirements usually takes a year or two, so another two years pass before
candidates receive official invitations to NATO, which is usually done at the
annual summit.
There are several reasons for
the decision in Brussels. Although the U.S. is pressing for early admission,
NATO veterans like France and Germany strongly recommended this delay, in order
- to quote a German diplomat, "not to further antagonize Moscow, with
which relations are bad enough due to the 'Kosovo precedent,' quarrels over new
[U.S.] missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic and differences
over conventional arms control in Europe."
European diplomats of
"old NATO" didn't hide their views that to alienate Russia further in
order to please Tbilisi and Kiev, would be a serious mistake. Especially when
in Moscow a new President - Dmitry Medvedev -- is taking the reins of power.
For whatever reason, in Europe he is widely perceived to be pro-Western, unlike
Putin. So it is thought that accession provide a "good opportunity"
to revive relations with Moscow, which have greatly deteriorated over the past
four years.
All of these lines of
reasoning are valid. But, there's one more reason that now seems to outweigh
all other considerations. That is the forthcoming NATO summit in Bucharest in
April. The allies head to the summit so heavy with differences, simply no one
wanted to squeeze the " Georgia-Ukraine trifles" onto the agenda.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
The thing is, that the summit
simply must be a success. After all, it is slated to be the largest in the
history of the alliance. Moreover, it will be attended by all 26 heads of state
and government. The invited participants include all the non-NATO countries of
the anti-terrorist coalition in Afghanistan, financial donors such as Japan, in
addition to officials from the United Nations and the European Union. Also
waiting in Budapest will be outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin. The
media are already emphasizing that this will be the first time that Russia will
officially participate at a NATO summit.
The two main issues on the
agenda: the situation in Afghanistan, particularly the strengthening of NATO's
contingent in the country; and NATO's enlargement by admitting the new Balkan
members of the alliance: Macedonia, Albania and Croatia. And here is precisely
where the trouble begins.
Germany could potentially
"break lots of dishes" at the party in Bucharest. The United States
and Britain have been unable to persuade Berlin to send units of the Bundeswehr [German Army] currently guarding the calm
north of Afghanistan to the south - where there is a real war. While so far,
Angela Merkel has argued that the Bundeswehr cannot "be torn apart
going between different parts of Afghanistan." This is highly
disingenuous, since no one expects the Bundeswehr to "tear itself
apart": NATO (Washington) simply requires that it send additional units to
the south. But how, since at home the polls show that 86 percent of Germans
oppose any participation of their soldiers in combat? Merkel's Grand Coalition
is not doing very well on the economic front either, so the very thought of
what would happen if it yields to U.S. demands throws the coalition into a
tremor.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
The greatest pressure on the
Germans emanates from Washington. And pressure they have. It used to be that
the U.S. turned the heat on wavering allies two or three months before major
NATO meetings - but this time around, it began "grinding away" at
them nine months beforehand. Defense Secretary Robert Gates sent an open letter
to Berlin, in which he explicitly castigated the Germans for sitting in their
barracks while Americans and Britons are being killed in southern Afghanistan.
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The Republic of
Macedonia and Greek Macedonia ...
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And neither are things going
smoothly with regard to NATO expansion in the Balkans. Not at all smoothly. The
Greeks are threatening to ruin the picture with an issue that seems extremely
ridiculous in the eyes of all but the truest Helene patriot. The Greeks are
flatly refusing to permit Macedonia's entry into NATO until the Republic
changes its name. Greece argues - and not for the first time - that Macedonia
is part of northern Greece, is the birthplace of Alexander the Great, and that
it won't allow anyone to take that glorious name away from them!
At the most recent NATO
meeting last March, the Greeks remained adamant, despite being reminded that
Macedonia's accession to NATO is as strategically important as the independence
of Kosovo, since it should help strengthen the alliance's presence in the
Balkans and for the sake of their own stability. The Greeks were unmoved.
So in general, no matter how
you look at it, the NATO summit in Bucharest will be historic and the largest,
but it will also be the most difficult.
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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US March
13, 02:40am]