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> NATO Ready To Admit 7 Countries > > 2002-09-27 15:02:33 > > > > After months of intense but virtually unnoticed diplomacy, the NATO alliance is set >to invite seven Eastern European countries to be new members, > the biggest expansion in its 53-year history. > > > > Invitations will be issued in November, at a summit in Prague, to Bulgaria, Estonia, >Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, according > to U.S. and European officials. > > > > The admission of the seven nations -- all former satellites of the Soviet Union or >parts of it -- would bring more than 40 million additional > people under NATO's security umbrella and stretch the alliance's territory from the >Baltic coast just west of Russia to the Black Sea on Europe's > southeastern flank. > > > > The expansion would legally commit NATO's 19 current members, including the United >States, to defend these new members' borders as though they > were their own. With the addition three years ago of the Czech Republic, Hungary and >Poland, the expansion would make NATO a very different > organization than it was when the Cold War ended, according to diplomats and >politicians in Europe and the United States. > > > > NATO officials have decided not to announce the expansion until the November summit. >At the end of a three-day meeting of the alliance's defense > ministers here today, George Robertson, NATO's secretary general, said that they had >discussed "what the applicant countries still need to do" to > qualify for membership. > > > > Several defense ministers said the enlargement was not debated in their meetings >because the decision to take in the seven had already been made. > U.S. and European officials said in interviews that agreement on admitting all seven >has been reached, barring unanticipated, last-minute > difficulties. > > > > "It's already decided politically," said Poland's foreign minister, Wlodzimierz >Cimoszewicz, in an interview. > > > > A "big bang" of expansion by seven (as it became known to NATO insiders) at the >Prague summit was far from certain when Bush spoke last year. But > "September 11 changed the way we looked at enlargement," said a senior U.S. official >closely involved in the process. Suddenly, the United States > realized that "we need as many allies as we can get" to fight terrorism. > > > > The war in Afghanistan "provided opportunities for some countries to show that they >were capable of acting like allies," and could make a > meaningful contribution, the official added. Bulgaria and Romania both hurriedly >offered assistance to the war effort. Bulgaria contributed an > airfield for the refueling of tankers supporting the Afghan campaign, and Romania >sent a battalion of troops into the war zone, using its own > U.S.-made C-130 transport aircraft. > > > > Now, according to Robert Hunter, U.S. ambassador to NATO during the Clinton >administration, "people are going to hold their noses and swallow > hard on Romania and Bulgaria," which the Clinton administration did not consider >ready for membership. Hunter said he now supports their > inclusion. > > > > Once Russia and NATO had agreed in May on their new joint council, the last obstacle >to a major NATO expansion fell away. Proponents of the idea > could emphasize the benefits, and there were no strong arguments standing in the >way. Robert A. Bradtke, deputy assistant secretary of state and > a key figure in the process, put it this way in an interview: "Bringing these >countries into NATO will contribute to the consolidation of > democracy, and will reflect the new strategic situation: Russia is no longer a >threat." > > > > NATO officials said it would take at least two years for the parliaments of all 19 >member nations to ratify amendments to the North Atlantic > Treaty that would allow full membership for the seven countries. During that time >the membership action plans would continue in force and new > requirements could still be added to keep the aspirants on their toes, officials >said. > > > > U.S. officials said they expected little difficulty winning Senate ratification of >the new NATO members. Earlier this year, with little fanfare, > Congress passed the Freedom Support Act that provided funding to the applicant >countries to help them meet NATO's conditions. > > > > Whole story > > * Headline - seeurope.net > > /Source: Washington Post/ > > > www.seeurope.net > > --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
