Bucharest (Romania): NATO Summit Update (II) – Mar 27, 2008

Mar 27, 2008 (Romania Report & sources)

Lavrov: Russia Still Opposes NATO Expansion, US Missile Defense Plans… Russia deserves a new chance with West, but after Putin has left… Sarkozy woos the British; At NATO Summit, France to announce more troops for Afghanistan – BBC News


Lavrov: Russia Still Opposes NATO Expansion, US Missile Defense Plans

Russia's foreign minister again has expressed opposition to NATO expansion and U.S. plans for a missile defense system in central Europe, Voice of America reads.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke to reporters in Moscow Thursday ahead of early next month's visit to Russia by U.S. President George Bush.

Lavrov said his country views proposals for NATO expansion as being out of touch with reality. He said the entire world faces common threats that must be handled in common.

Lavrov also stressed his country's view that the best way to resolve disagreements over the planned U.S. missile defense system is for Washington to abandon it.

Leaders of the 26 NATO countries are expected to invite Albania, Croatia and possibly Macedonia into the alliance at next week's summit in Bucharest. They will also consider initiating the membership process for Ukraine and Georgia.

The United States wants to place 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and control-radar in the Czech Republic.

Russia has strongly opposed the plan as a threat to its security. It has said the system could set off a new arms race.


Russia deserves a new chance with West, but after Putin has left

ON 2-4 April, NATO will hold its biggest summit ever in Bucharest, the capital of its new member, Romania.

Incredibly, Nato has invited its fiercest critic, the outgoing Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to attend. For the first time since 2002, he will. His presence is an embarrassment to NATO, but an even greater disgrace for Russia – ANDERS ÅSLUND, Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics said in an analysis for The Scotsman, Mar 27.


Sarkozy woos the British; At NATO Summit, France to announce more troops for Afghanistan – BBC News

French President Nicolas Sarkozy showed his powers of seduction in his speech to members of the British parliament.

"You represent the touchstone of everything our democracies stand for" was his opening gambit. It was followed by a hymn of praise to British history and courage. This always goes down well with a British audience, but it is quite rare to hear it these days.

"France will never forget," he declared, when speaking with emotion about the last war.

He did mention the European Union: "My dear British people, the EU needs the UK," was his message.

Practical politics
(…) There were also hints that for the new partnership to work, the British half of the couple would have to bring something to the table as well.
It is in the follow up to these offers that the real test of the "brotherhood" he is proposing will come. They include joint action on global warming, energy (joint exploitation of French nuclear expertise), immigration (a common EU policy), development, defence and security.
Sarkozy even offered a renewed discussion about reform of the EU's common agricultural policy. We don't know enough about whether they are safe, he suggested.

Defence splits
A key element of his offer lay in defence. He is trying to integrate an Atlantic and a European view, claiming that there is no real distinction between the two.
France would send more troops to Afghanistan, but is seeking political cover by getting NATO to put greater emphasis on reconstruction. His final position will emerge at the NATO summit in Romania next week.


Romania Report & sources