Word: nato
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Administration to pay greater attention to Central Europe, an area the West can influence far more than Moscow. But it isn't. Central Europe's fledgling democracies are suffering from the U.S. obsession with Russia -- as will become abundantly clear next week when the President attends his first NATO summit in Brussels...
Normally, NATO gatherings put people to sleep. This one is different. In the wake of communism's collapse, the question on the table for the first time is whether to expand eastward to embrace those former Soviet satellites finally in a position to join the free world's premier defense alliance. "It would be a historic sin to miss this opportunity to bind in the East Europeans," says NATO Secretary-General Manfred Worner. But the West, led by the U.S., is about to commit that very sin. The 16 nations that already enjoy NATO's protection are on the verge...
Although Moscow watchers in the West played down the possibility of a revanchist Russia, panicky East Europeans renewed their entreaties for prompt entry into NATO. Zhirinovsky's past pledge to reincorporate Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania into Russia had leaders of the three Baltic republics huddling to shore up international support for their independence. As editorialists in the capitals of Western Europe and Asia warned of "dangerous fascism," Vice President Al Gore cast Zhirinovsky's views as "reprehensible and anathema to all freedom-loving people...
...those watching from beyond Russia's borders, Zhirinovsky's improbable but disquieting suggestions of "new Hiroshimas" and "Chernobyls" were enough to force a swift rethink of strategy. Last week Germans modified their enthusiastic calls for an eastward expansion of NATO, pushing instead for a "gradual and controlled" opening in order to assuage Russia's paranoid generals. In Washington the dominant refrain was to urge the U.S. Administration both to reduce its personal identification with Yeltsin and to broaden its contacts within Russia. And Westerners everywhere read the returns as proof positive that Yeltsin's personal popularity did not translate into...
...West is already girding for a more aggressive Russian line in foreign policy. In recent weeks Moscow has toughened its expressions of concern about the shabby treatment of ethnic Russians in former republics. It has also signalled a vague willingness to retaliate if NATO decides to open its membership to the former Warsaw Pact states. That may mean the parliament balking at the provisions of the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe and SALT II. U.S. analysts warn that under the new parliament, Russia's arms sales abroad will rise, as will the budgets of the security and military services...