...when one recalls a report entitled, "Osama bin Laden Determined to Strike Within the USA."
Arab News
Editorial: Unnecessary Provocations
3 April 2008
It is hard to understand President Bush’s eagerness to have the Ukraine and Georgia become full members of NATO. Militarily both countries have little to offer the alliance while politically each brings major burdens that threaten relations with a resurgent Russia. Indeed the accession of Georgia could bring NATO into direct conflict with the Kremlin because there is a disputed border between the two countries.
Why therefore should Bush be tweaking the nose of the Russian bear by bringing what the Russians perceive as a threatening military alliance right up to their borders? We already have the precipitate American move to site a missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. Moscow very reasonably assumes that this $53 billion project, officially called the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD), will be deployed against its own missiles rather than those which Washington claims the Iranians may have in due time. Any Kremlin defense strategists with half a brain is going to appreciate that bringing NATO right to Russia’s eastern and southern frontiers constitutes a further threat.
The Georgians, whose army is being trained and equipped by America may welcome NATO membership as a further guarantee of their independence from Russian influence. However, many Ukrainians who are not of Russian origin are actually deeply concerned at the loss of their nonaligned status.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=108529&d=3&m=4&y=2008
