PRAGUE AND BEYOND

  • 2002-11-21
Going into the Prague summit of Nov. 21 – 22 there are two irrefutable tenets and two equally irrefutable lessons that we all must remember if the historic meeting is to have any lasting significance.

First, all nations have the right to choose their system of national security. While patently obvious, this fundamental political tenet needs to be repeated once again if only for the sake of Russia and those who continue to moan and bicker at the idea of NATO enlargement in the Baltics. The Baltic countries are sovereign entities, and so being have full right to join any security alliance they see fit, neighbors' feelings be damned.

Second, just because one military alliance collapses doesn't mean that its opposing alliance should voluntarily disband. To suggest so is ludicrous. The Warsaw Pact fell apart under the strain of economic and human-rights abuses; this doesn't necessitate that NATO dissemble its tanks and mothball its equipment. Moscow should remember that just because it lost the Cold War doesn't mean that the victor, now absent of an adversary, should cease to exist. The world didn't stop in 1989.

Looking ahead, there are two aspects of European security that, should they be disregarded by NATO leadership, will render the alliance irrelevant.

Primarily, there can be no system of security in Europe without Russia's participation. Continual enlargement will, in the end, amount to nothing more than self-aggrandizement if it does not take into account the interests of the world's largest country. NATO's future success depends as much on engaging Russia as it does on maintaining a consensus among current members. The minute Russia begins to feel excluded is the minute that Brussels will lose control over Pan-European security issues and challenges.

Lastly, NATO itself must drastically change. The alliance's existing capabilities, doctrine and command structure are outdated and doomed to fail in face of the civilized world's real enemy: terrorism. While NATO leadership is cognizant of this new threat, it has yet to adapt to it.

In Prague U.S. President George Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will push the idea of a new "Rapid Response Force" – an offensive weapon of 21,000 troops deployable within one week and self-sustainable for one month – to deal with terrorist cells, and it is expected that other alliance members will agree.

The question is all-important. Should America and its European allies, including the Baltic states, fail to agree on how to respond to terrorism, the alliance will gradually sink into redundancy and America's drift toward unilateralism will reel out of control, leaving NATO - the 20th century's most enduring security alliance - in history books.

"American critics of Europe's military incapability are right," NATO Secretary General George Robertson said last February. "So if we are to ensure that the United States moves neither toward unilateralism or isolationism…Europeans and Canadians must show a new willingness to development crisis management capability."

The task has been defined. So after Prague a short, well-deserved celebration is in order, and then it's back to work on Monday with our sleeves rolled up. Our security depends upon it.