Regarding the March 24 editorial titled “NATO should not `go east’ “:
In December 1994, all 16 NATO members unanimously agreed to enlarge eastward. The real question is who will become its newest members–and when. Secretary of State Warren Christopher reassured East European nations in March that “NATO enlargement is on track and will happen.”
Nations of Central Europe want NATO to go east because this organization continues to be the most important security institution and has proved to be effective in protecting democracy and human rights among its members. NATO can extend to new countries the benefits of common defense and integration into European and North Atlantic institutions. For Poland, NATO membership is as important as membership in the European Union, as both are essential for full integration with the West.
The enlargement of NATO is not directed against Russia and is not intended to isolate Russia and divide Europe. To the contrary–the enlargement, together with the construction of new relations between the alliance and Russia, is the principal road on which the division of Europe may finally be overcome.
NATO has successfully demonstrated its peaceful character, but Russia seems not to recognize this true fact of the alliance. It persists in maintaining old stereotypes, which are rooted in different conditions on the continent and which do not correspond with the current state of its relations with the West.
Democratic reforms in the East are far from being assured; therefore, a security vacuum still existing in Central Europe has to be liquidated. Poland and other countries from the region are not in danger now but they need some sort of insurance policy. This security vacuum always can generate temptation.
Any potential attack on Prague or Warsaw should be considered by the U.S. as “an attack on Peoria” because history shows that the U.S. always ignores Central Europe at its own peril. There is no security for the U.S.–or Western Europe and Russia–without security at Europe’s heart, in Europe’s heartland.
