Sunday, Sep 29, 2002
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By Batuk Gathani
The move would bring 40 million more people under the shield of the world's largest and most resourceful military alliance, which spans from North America to the heartland of central Europe, bordering Russia. The decision to take in seven more members was taken after months of intense diplomacy. With the new admissions, the total number of members will go up to 26 members, thus making it the biggest expansion in its 53-year old history. The so-called "big bang'' NATO expansion will be consolidated at the organisation's meeting in Prague in November, when formal invitations to Bulgaria, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia will be issued. Russia is interpreting this strategy as almost a fait accompli. The new Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — were part of the Soviet Union, which collapsed in 1989. After the expansion, the NATO security umbrella will stretch from the Baltic coast in the European North Sea region just west of Russia, to the Black Sea on Europe's southern flank. During the first phase of NATO expansion thee years ago, three former communist-ruled countries — Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary — were given full membership of NATO, making the current total of 19 members from the original 16. Observers here are not certain if NATO will continue to offer membership to countries rated as "semi-democratic'' and it is argued that the events of Sept. 11, 2001 and the war in Afghanistan have changed the ground situation. The U.S. administration lays more emphasis on political, logistical and military expediency in deciding who should and should not become members of the alliance. The proposed expansion will make NATO a very different organisation from what it was during the height of the Cold War. After the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact alliance, particularly in the wake of the Bush administration's "global war on terrorism'', perceptions of NATO have changed. For example, liberal Europeans are concerned with the pace of events leading to a military confrontation with Iraq. It is also noted that for "security reasons" the American officials have sidelined NATO. A European commentator writes, "We are sleepwalking into a reckless war of aggression'' and accuses the Blair Government in Britain of proving political cover for a policy (against Iraq) which is being opposed across the world.
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