Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- [Anyone accustomed to being chastised for making ostensibly 'unsubstantiated' claims whenever writing to newspapers, elected officials and journalists, might feel vindicated by the tissue of lies, inaccuracies and ungrounded speculation contained in this Agence France Presse feature, one which had no problem getting past the copy editor and fact checkers en route to Web sites and newspapers throughout the world. The villainous Russia, evil and conniving by nature, is mounting a campaign to 'frighten' the tiny Baltic nations into postponing or canceling their 'possible' entry into NATO. This is according to - that's the problem. All the report tells us is that this unproven contention emanates from a senior U.S. official who prefers, as always, to remain anonymous. That Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as well as six other European nations, are slated to join the already 19 nation NATO alliance and in so doing cross two critical thresholds - the encroachment of NATO right up to the Russian border and the incorporation of former Soviet republics into NATO for the first time - is not deemed a valid reason for Russian concern. The report identifies what it curiously refers to as six former "Soviet-bloc countries," including Albania, Slovenia and Macedonia. Any secondary school student in Europe could point out that Albania was never a member of any so-called Soviet bloc, quite the opposite, and that Slovenia and Macedonia had never been countries until 1991 - at exactly the same time that the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Prior to that both were republics within Yugoslavia, which also was never part of any Soviet bloc. What truth that does come across, though, is probably unintentional. Clearly the unnamed and perhaps nonexistent U.S. official is floating a trial balloon: Can Russia be pressured/bribed into accepting the destruction of the ABM and Western proliferation of missile shields and space weapons if NATO pretends to slow down the absorption of the three Baltic states? Second, and why doesn't anyone comment on this, the report perfunctorily mentions that NATO candidates must be "democratic free market countries," as though the world's mightiest military alliance dictating the internal socio-economic structures and policies of (formally) sovereign European nations is quite in the order of things. Lastly, the typo in the last sentence is in the original; apparently one of the world's three largest commercial press wire services not only can't afford a fact checker, they don't have a proofreader or spell check either.] Thursday September 6, 1:41 AM Russia trying to scare NATO into rejecting Baltic expansion: US official WASHINGTON, Sept 5 (AFP) - Russia is attempting to frighten European members of NATO into rejecting or at least postponing the alliance's possible expansion into the Baltics, a senior US official said Wednesday. "I think the Russians are still hoping to create enough anxiety among allies to at least postpone invitations to at least one or more of the Baltic states beyond the Prague summit next year," the official said. The Baltic states -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- are aspiring candidates to the 19-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization which is to extend membership invitations to hopefuls at its leaders meeting in Czech capital next November. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that to many Russians the question of NATO expansion into the Baltics was more vexing than the US plans to develop a national missile shield that would violate the landmark 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty. "My impression is that among the Russian elite and the government NATO enlargement, particularly NATO enlargement to the Baltic states, may be a more neuralgic issue than missile defense when push comes to shove," he said. As evidence, the official pointed to comments made earlier this week by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a visit to Finland. Putin "seemed to be a little more edgy on NATO expansion than on missile defense," the official said. Putin said Monday that Moscow did not want the Baltic states admitted to NATO and described such a move as a "mistake" unwarranted on security grounds. "I underline that there are no objective conditions for enlarging and (for) the Baltic countries becoming members of NATO," Putin told a news conference. "Pushing NATO's limits to Russia does not create a universal security in Europe, it does not solve any key issue in Europe," he said. Baltic membership in the alliance "only pushes NATO borders closer to Russia." "We are not glad," Putin said. "This is a mistake." Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The trio as well as six former Soviet-bloc countries -- Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia and Albania -- have applied for membership. The first former Soviet bloc states to join NATO, in March 1999, were Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic and the alliance is committed to expand again in 2002. To qualify for membership candidates must be democratic free market countries with civilian control of their militaries. Their armed forces myst also be in line with NATO standards. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger http://im.yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: archive@jab.org T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
