Balts react to anti-NATO magazine article

Supporters of NATO's expansion into the Baltics once again find themselves defending their cause.

This time it is in response to an article in the February issue of The Atlantic Monthly, a national American magazine. Penned by Moscow correspondent Jeffrey Tayler, the essay argues that Baltic discrimination against Russians is among the reasons Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania should not be admitted to the defense alliance.

Already the article has generated a great deal of discussion. The Joint Baltic American National Committee and Ojars Kalnins, director of the Riga-based Latvian Institute, have prepared critical letters to the magazine's editor.

The Latvian government, which looks forward to Latvia being among nations almost certain to be invited to join NATO during the alliance's Prague summit in November, is withholding comment. But it supports Kalnins' response, said Peteris Vinkelis, a senior diplomat in Latvia's Embassy in Washington, D.C.

The article, "The Next Threat to NATO," suggests the three Baltic nations don't fit the bill for NATO membership. Especially in Estonia and Latvia, Tayler argues, linguistic, citizenship and other discrimination against the Russian minority has created a potentially volatile situation that could come back to bite NATO.

Tayler based his essay in part on interviews with the residents of the three Baltic countries, beginning with a stop in Narva, a city in northeastern Estonia largely populated by Russians.

"If hostilities between NATO and Russia arose," Tayler writes, "to whom would Baltic Russians without citizenship turn if they felt threatened or oppressed? Could Russia exploit them to provoke dissent within NATO?"

Tayler also points to Russia's continued influence over former Soviet territory, including the Baltics, which it refers to as its "near abroad." If it expects Russia to support such efforts as military action in Afghanistan, he argues, NATO must take care not to upset Russia.

"If NATO expands to include the Baltic states," Tayler writes, "it risks acquiring a flash point for tension with Russia that could compromise, if not destroy, the alliance, just as the alliance is beginning to exercise its role as the bulwark of the West - a role that, this time at least, it has needed Russian assistance to perform."

Hard talk

The most recent reminder of Russia's perceived hegemony over the region came just days ago. During a Jan. 31 reception in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin chastised new Latvian Ambassador Normans Penke over Latvia's treatment of Russians, according to the English-language newspaper The Moscow Times.

Although Tayler's essay may not sway any NATO leaders to reconsider their welcome of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania into the alliance, Baltic supporters of NATO enlargement still bristle at the journalist's words.

Kalnins of the Latvian Institute said Tayler confuses Kremlin posturing with its practical policy.

"Regardless of some of the bombastic rhetoric that issues from Moscow," Kalnins said, "I think cooler minds in the Kremlin will prevail once Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia join NATO. Some of the older hands in Moscow would love to save face and keep the Balts out of NATO, simply because this has been their position from the beginning."

The Washington-based Joint Baltic American National Committee, which has been leading a unified Baltic-American lobby in favor of enlargement, also found fault with Tayler's essay.

"We feel that the article neglects mention of the Baltics' long history of accommodating their Russian-speaking populations," said Karl Altau, managing director.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe closed its missions in Latvia and Estonia at the end of December, Altau noted, a sign that the agency is satisfied the rights of the Russian minority are being adequately protected.

Enlargement also does not threaten Russia, Altau said.

Tayler in his essay disagrees with that view.

"To be effective and cohesive as a military alliance," he writes, "NATO must avoid being turned into a club that any country with a grudge against Russia may join - including countries with grudges as valid as those of the Baltics."

Though Tayler does not support NATO enlargement into the Baltics, he concedes that joining the European Union - and an EU-sponsored military force - is something the Russian minority in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania would welcome.