Word: membership
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Secretary Rice, the Bush administration, our NATO allies, have declined to speed up the process of giving membership to Georgia. Is that a good idea or is that a sign of fear about alienating Russia...
...know what it's a sign of. I would, in the case of both Ukraine and Georgia, I would press for their early...movement on the schedule toward membership in NATO. I don't know what their motives or what reasoning is behind it, that recent announcement that Secretary Rice made...
...Russia's action has raised the level of insecurity felt along Europe's eastern edge, and is likely to reinforce support from the member states formerly dominated by the Soviet Union for Georgia and Ukraine to be granted NATO membership - a red-line issue for Russia. France and Germany have urged caution, fearing that both former Russian territories could drag the alliance into conflict with Moscow. While hawkish voices in the U.S. suggest that Russia would have been deterred from attacking Georgia had it and Ukraine been on track for NATO membership, France and Germany see things quite differently...
...When NATO holds its last summit of the Bush presidency in December, the symbolic language may remain soothingly supportive of membership for Georgia, but don't expect to see it granted a Membership Action Plan. Indeed, the events of the past week have called into question the very purpose of NATO and its relationship with Russia...
...regardless of the appeals of Senator McCain - and his Democratic opponent, Senator Barack Obama - the events of the past week have more likely placed Georgia's NATO membership in the deep freeze for the foreseeable future, even if the Alliance remains rhetorically committed to the idea in principle. If so, Moscow can count what has transpired as a major victory: it has prevented the advance of a rival military alliance into Russia's backyard...