STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Get a low APR NextCard Visa in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 2.99% Intro or 9.99% Ongoing APR and no annual fee! Apply NOW! http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/NextCard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- In the name of Odin the All-Powerful, Thor the Thunderer, his Invincible Son, and Thyl, his Brother and Norse God of War, we invoke the power of the Teutonic Master-Race to subdue the legions of Slavs and other sub-humans. May lightening bolts descend upon the heads of our adversaries and may the Nordic Atlantic Tribal Organization reign ever supreme! - Donald Rumsfeld, June 9, 500 B.C. Saturday June 9, 6:50 PM US, Baltic and Nordic defense ministers meet on regional security TURKU, Finland, June 9 (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met with his Baltic and Nordic opposite numbers here Saturday for a regional security conference that is expected to air pitches for NATO membership by three tiny Baltic states. With NATO expected to decide next year on new members, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are coming down to the wire in their bid to become the first former Soviet republics to join the alliance. The meeting will give Rumsfeld a chance to weigh the progress made by the Baltic states in preparing for NATO membership against Russia's opposition to NATO expansion into the former Soviet Union. The question of enlargement is coming to a head as Washington and Moscow already are at sharp odds over US plans to develop and deploy missile defenses beyond the limits of the 1972 ABM treaty. On Friday Rumsfeld held lengthy and strikingly non-confrontational talks with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov in Brussels on a new strategic framework for relations between the United States and Russia. They said the talks were wide-ranging, but neither men made any mention of the Baltics or NATO enlargement. On missile defense, however, Ivanov reaffirmed Moscow's opposition to changes in the ABM treaty but left the door open to further dialogue with Washington on a new strategic framework. The last round of expansion in 1999, which coincided with a NATO air war against Yugoslavia, infuriated Moscow by admitting three former Soviet-bloc countries -- the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. Now nine countries are hoping to be admitted at a NATO summit in Prague next year. Besides the Baltic states, they are Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Moscow has gradually reestablished ties with NATO that were broken during the war against Belgrade, which is culturally and historically close to Russia. Ivanov said Friday that he expects a new NATO liaison office to be opened in Moscow by the end of the year, and he described Russia's cooperation with NATO in Balkans peacekeeping as "a great success." Rumsfeld's meetings here and in Brussels will set the stage for a visit to Europe next week by President George W. Bush, who is to hold his first summits with EU states in Stockholm and with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Slovenia. Washington insists that the door to NATO membership remains open and that no country will be excluded by reason of history or geography. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis in May said Lithuanians were "sick and tired" of being kept out of NATO because of Russias objections. But US and NATO officials also have warned that the criteria for membership are tough, and that countries must show that they will add to the alliance's security. The Baltic states had no national armies when they gained independence in 1991. But they now have 22,500 active duty troops that are trained to operate with NATO and together. They have a joint peacekeeping battalion that serves in Bosnia-Hercegoving. They share a defense college for staff officers, a naval squadron and a radar network. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
