[Via... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Miroslav Antic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; NATO <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; BALKAN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; SNN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2001 2:11 AM Subject: NATO MPs to mull expansion on ex-Soviet territory [STOPNATO.ORG.UK] STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Get a low APR NextCard Visa in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 2.99% Intro or 9.99% Ongoing APR and no annual fee! Apply NOW! http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/NextCard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NATO MPs to mull expansion on ex-Soviet territory By Peter Mladineo VILNIUS, May 26 (Reuters) - NATO parliamentarians meet next week for the first time on former Soviet territory to discuss alliance expansion, U.S. missile defence plans and Balkans bloodshed, the head of their assembly said on Saturday. Russia's associate delegation pulled out of the spring session in protest at the plan to stage it in on ex-Soviet terrain -- the Baltic republic of Lithuania -- for the first time since the U.S.-led alliance was formed in 1955. Russia, which dominated the Soviet Union before its disintegration a decade ago, objects to Lithuania and other ex-Soviet states bidding to join NATO. "...They communicated to us that they believed that to attend this particular meeting in this particular location would represent in their view their acquiescence in the possibility of this country joining NATO," assembly General Secretary Simon Lunn told journalists in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital. Although neither Russia nor Lithuania is a NATO member, they are allowed to participate in the alliance assembly as associates, along with 15 other non-member states. Despite Russia's protest, Lunn said the assembly still hoped to adopt a declaration calling on the NATO leadership to issue invitations to "any European democracy" that meets NATO entry criteria and wants membership. "The assembly emphasises that the last round of enlargement has been successful in enhancing peace and stability in the entire Euro-Atlantic region, and that NATO must sustain the credibility of its open-door policy," the draft resolution says. PROPOSED U.S. MISSILE SHIELD ON AGENDA The assembly's roughly 300 members, whose resolutions are non-binding, will also take up the divisive issue of U.S. President George W. Bush's plans for a national missile defence shield despite fierce objections from Russia and China. Key U.S. allies in Europe like Britain and Germany have straddled the fence on the issue so far, arguing that Bush has not yet decided what systems he wants to deploy, while France has criticised the project. "Missile defence is an area where there is clearly a divergence of views ... There are some misunderstandings and some misperceptions on either side of the Atlantic," Lunn said. The Balkans will also figure heavily in the discussions and the assembly is expected to vote on a resolution welcoming reform in Yugoslavia after the October fall of nationalist autocrat Slobodan Milosevic. The resolution suggests formal ties between Belgrade and NATO under its Partnership for Peace programme but that conditions should be attached, such as cooperation with the Dutch-based U.N. tribunal which pursues Balkan war criminals. The resolution warns ethnic Albanians in old federal Yugoslavia that violence by nationalist groups in their midst them has eroded the international sympathy they built up during the 1999 Kosovo crisis. It also calls on Macedonia to "address the political and economic grievances" of its minority Albanians, on whose behalf guerrillas are fighting government forces. Miroslav Antic, http://www.antic.org/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
