The New York Times April 29, 1998
Stop Worrying About Russia
By MADELEINE K. ALBRIGHT
This week, the Senate will be asked to ratify the admission of Poland,
Hungary and the Czech Republic to NATO.
The vote comes at a turning point in European history. For the first
time, we have a chance to break the old patterns of conflict and to
extend to Europe's eastern half the same recipe that has made war
inconceivable in its western half. We finally have a chance to build a
Europe whole and free.
But we will not do that by making NATO the last institution in Europe to
keep the Iron Curtain as its eastern frontier. We will not do that if
Europe's premier security alliance excludes a whole group of qualified
democracies simply because they were subjugated in the past. We will not
do that if NATO refuses to be open to those free nations that are
willing and able to meet the responsibilities of membership.
This is the central issue in the debate over NATO enlargement. Poland,
Hungary and the Czech Republic have met every possible requirement of
membership. They are strong democracies with healthy economies. They
have helped us resolve virtually every potential ethnic and territorial
dispute in their region. Their soldiers have risked their lives in the
Persian Gulf war and Bosnia. All three have offered to contribute forces
if a military strike is necessary in Iraq.
The most fundamental argument the critics have put forward is that the
admission of even a single new NATO ally from Central Europe will harm
our relations with Russia.
My first response is to wonder why some people cannot discuss the future
of Central Europe without immediately changing the subject to Russia.
Central Europe has more than 20 countries and 200 million people, with
its own history, its own problems and its own contributions to make to
our alliance. Most of these countries do not even border Russia. But
their security is and always has been vital to the future of Europe as a
whole.
Critics who focus on Russia's opposition to enlargement are cynically
assuming that Russia will always define its national interests in ways
inimical to our own. They believe that Russia will always be threatened
and humiliated by the desire of its former satellites to go their own
way, that it will never get over the end of its empire. They think
Russia's neighbors must set aside their legitimate aspirations
indefinitely so that the United States and Russia can get along.
These assumptions not only sell Russia short -- they are also dangerous.
If we want Russia to complete its transformation into a modern European
power, the last thing we should do is to act as if Central Europe is
still a Russian sphere of influence.
As for cooperation between the United States and Russia, I have a pretty
good vantage point on that question as Secretary of State, and I have
not seen one scintilla of evidence to support the critics' fears.
Russian leaders don't like NATO enlargement, but we have both chosen to
cooperate on those issues where we agree, and they are many. We have
disagreements on matters like Iraq and Iran -- but these have everything
to do with the way Russia has traditionally pursued its interests in
that part of the world, and nothing to do with an issue as distant as
Hungarian membership in NATO. W e have continued to push ahead with arms
control, too. Russia is a year ahead of schedule in slicing apart
weapons under Start I. We have agreed on the outlines of a Start III
treaty that would cut nuclear arsenals to 80 percent below their cold
war peaks. With the confirmation of Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko,
Start II ratification is back on track in the Duma.
The bottom line is this: we can continue to treat European politics as a
zero-sum game, in which Russia must lose if Central Europe gains, and
Central Europe must lose if Russia gains. We can stay allied with
Europe's old democracies forever, but its new democracies never. Or we
can realize that the cold war is over and that Europe has changed
fundamentally.
Saying "yes" to a larger NATO would be a good sign that we do
understand.
Madeleine K. Albright is the Secretary of State.