|
Bush welcomes NATOâs new seven
U.S. President George W. Bush has formally welcomed the addition of seven new members to the NATO alliance during a ceremony on Monday. Why bother? Itâs not like they will receive any support from Chiraq, Schroeder et al., other than bandaids and condolences. The word âallianceâ has been redefined as of late. And not to mention the EUâs own defense plans. But the inclusion of former communist states Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is raising concerns in Moscow. ... NATO has tried to convince Moscow the expansion is not directed at Russia, but NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who was at the White House for Mondayâs ceremony, told CNN much needed to be done to strengthen NATO-Russian ties. I know there are a lot of old-timers here who are still in the cold war mind set, but perhaps Colin Powell is right: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell last week said Russia should view a larger NATO not as a threat, but as a partner. ... My guess is sooner or later weâll be needing each other to counter another threat which we are all familiar with. Unless, of course, someone like Zhirinovsky comes to power. NATO was established on April 4, 1949 by 12 nations: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom and the United States. How many of these are still in the alliance? Time will tell. Posted by: Rafael 2004-03-29 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=29339 |