Panorama.am

13:57 16/08/2008

NATO divided on American call to punish Moscow

Russia’s military walkover in Georgia has deepened NATO divisions as
it prepares to find a new way next week of handling the resurgent
former superpower.

The British `Times’ reports, that Washington has called a meeting on
Tuesday of NATO foreign ministers, essentially to punish Moscow for
what the United States, Britain and, especially, East European
countries see as a brutal invasion that reverted to Cold War methods.

The trouble is that several big European states ‘ notably France,
Germany and Italy ‘ do not see the Russian offensive that way. They
partly blame Georgia, a would-be NATO member and a
protégé of the United States. As Bernard Kouchner, the
French Foreign Minister, told The Times: `Russia is a great
nation. Look how we have been treating it.’ NATO, like its sister
organization, the EU, papered over divisions this week, condemning
Russia for `excessive, disproportionate use of force’ in Georgia and
restating that Nato membership would one day be offered to Tbilisi.
The presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined President
Yushenko of Ukraine in a symbolic trip to Tbilisi this week to push
NATO to `stand up against the spread of imperialist and revisionist
policy’ by Russia.

NATO has few options for putting pressure on the Kremlin beyond
advancing Georgian and Ukrainian membership or ending the partnership
with Moscow. Leverage is more likely to come from other fronts, such
as suspending Russia’s much-desired membership application for the
World Trade Organization or freezing its participation in G8 meetings.

Source: Panorama.am

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress