Bush Heads to Eastern Europe as Mood Shifts
President Bush starts a weeklong trip to Eastern Europe Monday, still popular in the region but under pressure because of Russia’s efforts to regain influence and a U.S. failure to deliver on some commitments.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili summed up the attitude of many Eastern Europeans at an Oval Office meeting this month when he gushed over Mr. Bush’s support for their political and economic development.
“What you’ve done for all over the region will be remembered greatly, and will be remembered as absolutely revolutionary change…giving chances to a people who never thought about having those opportunities and chances before,” he said.
But in reality, the mood among many Eastern European leaders toward the U.S. president is growing less enthusiastic, even as they continue to pour outsized numbers of troops into the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, compared with their Western European counterparts.
One big source of disappointment has been the U.S. failure to lift visa requirements for many Eastern European travelers despite all the help the region is providing on the military front. Another is the continuing U.S. pressure for revisions, and particularly costly military upgrades, when those countries already are spending money on troop deployments.
The U.S. is pressing again for new troop commitments in advance of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Bucharest, where Mr. Bush travels Tuesday after a brief stopover in Ukraine. Eastern European countries are expected to come through with a small number of troops, and France has indicated it will dispatch additional forces — a commitment of 1,000 or more troops is expected.
After Romania, Mr. Bush goes to Croatia and the Russian resort of Sochi on the Black Sea, where he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“There’s starting to be a little disillusionment with this relationship,” says Julianne Smith, an expert on Europe at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We’re starting to see these accusations: ‘Here’s a country that takes and takes and takes, and never gives.’”
At the same time, Russia has begun pushing harder to reassert its influence on many of its former satellites. Russia has threatened to retarget some of its missiles at Ukraine and Georgia if they are successful in getting onto a fast track for NATO membership at this week’s summit meeting.
Mr. Bush strongly advocates for NATO membership for the two countries, and scheduled his first stop in Kiev as a way of symbolizing U.S. support.
But some Western European countries, particularly Germany — eager to avoid upsetting Russia, which supplies much of Europe’s energy — have made it clear they oppose the move. Ukraine’s own leaders have dallied over their NATO application, suggesting they might be getting cold feet.
“I think there’s too much disagreement within NATO right now…for Georgia and Ukraine to be offered membership action plans at this summit,” said James Goldgeier, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “The Germans have been very clear that they don’t want to see this happen at the summit. They are eager not to anger the Russians.”
Some leaders have raised their demands for U.S. assistance. Poland, for example, has sought special security commitments from the U.S. in exchange for its participation in a missile-shield system that Washington wants, but that Russia is resisting. The U.S. says the small system is intended only to protect Europe from a possible long-range attack from Iran, not from any Russian missiles.
Early in his presidency, in a speech at Warsaw University in mid-2001, Mr. Bush dramatically proclaimed that “I believe in NATO membership for all of Europe’s democracies that seek it and are ready to share the responsibilities that NATO brings.”
He added, “As we plan to enlarge NATO, no nation should be used as a pawn in the agendas of others. We will not trade away the fate of free European peoples. No more Munichs. No more Yaltas….From now on, what you build, you keep. No one can take away your freedom or your country.”
Now, though, in the waning months of his presidency, Mr. Bush himself might be easing up, at least on his short-term pressure for NATO applications for Ukraine and Georgia. Notably, the White House isn’t predicting that NATO countries will agree on the requests, which require a consensus.
Late last week, Mr. Bush surprised many analysts by accepting Mr. Putin’s invitation to visit him in Russia at the end of his trip — and at Sochi, practically in the backyards of eastern European leaders.
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Sunday, March 30th, 2008 at 9:50 pm under