Extending NATO Posted by Michael Cohen

As long as I'm throwing shout-outs around, how about one for our NATO allies in telling George Bush where to stick his idea about extending NATO membership to Georgia and Ukraine.

While I am generally on board with the logic of expanding NATO, does anyone really think it's a good idea to extend the American nuclear umbrella to include Ukraine and Georgia? Georgia is barely even a state and is deeply reliant on outside aid and consultants to manage its affairs. The Ukraine is at best a fledgling democracy with a pretty lousy President and potentially uber-nationalist successor (the Perino-esque Yulia Tymoshenko). Do we really want to unconditionally pledge our military to defend these guys?

Finally, what is the point here of sticking a sharp stick in Russia's eye? I am not fan of Vladimir Putin or the lackey he currently has running the country, but this further alienates a somewhat important country and to my mind offers very little benefit for the United States and NATO. I just don't think there is a lot of logic to this and I frankly find it astounding that the President would suggest this move without knowing for sure whether our other NATO allies are on board.

Talk about making the US seem rather ineffectual, but then I suppose that's par for the course with this Administration.

Comments

[Zathras]

The idea of NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia was untimely (NATO membership for Kosovo, which was agreed to, is not much less so), but the real problem at Bucharest was that President Bush insisted on making a disagreement about this public.

It probably did get him, and the United States, some favorable notice in Ukraine and Georgia, but came at the price of his being seen to indulge in a lot of big talk about how he "means what he says" right before being shot down by the other NATO members he was trying to persuade. He managed to look both obstinate and ineffective, over an issue concerning which NATO decision was evidently predictable some time ago.

[Dan Kervick]

Thanks for some common sense Michael. I'm completely with you. What disturbs me is that Bush probably hasn't even thought hard about the momentous security ramifications of such a move. My impression is that he tends to think of things like NATO membership as mere perquisites to be tossed out here and there in exchange for favors or to secure short-term political benefits.

[David Tomlin]

Don't forget that for Bush to publicly propose something that will be publicly rejected by one or more European countries, is in itself a popular thing for his domestic base.

[Peace]

The failed plan to expand NATO has only angered the Russians and seperated us from our NATO allies. With these expansion plans and missile defense in Eastern Europe why is the foreign policy establishment and hawks like John McCain, who wants to exclude Russia from the G-8, want to refight the Cold War? The McCain-Bush foreign policy appears to be a relic of the past. Is this the foreign policy "experience," that the American public wants on election day?