Posted on 05/07/2006 10:38:23 AM PDT by Lukasz
DUBROVNIK, Croatia (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney pledged strong U.S. support on Saturday for Croatia's bid to join NATO and the European Union, following the example of other post-communist states in transition to democracy.
Cheney made the promise to reformist Prime Minister Ivo Sanader on the eve of a meeting in Dubrovnik with leaders of Croatia, Macedonia and Albania, as he toured former East bloc nations that increasingly have turned west since the Cold War.
He caused diplomatic waves on Thursday with a speech to Baltic and Black Sea heads of state in Vilnius where he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of backsliding on democracy and using energy reserves to bully Moscow's neighbors.
Standing on a restaurant patio against the backdrop of the Adriatic Sea and a 16th century fortress, Sanader said Croatia was doing its utmost to prepare for entry to NATO and the EU.
"We are strongly supportive of Croatia becoming a full member of the transatlantic community in terms of working with NATO and the EU," Cheney told his host.
Croatia opened EU accession talks in October, hoping to join around 2009. It is also further along than its Adriatic Charter partners, Macedonia and Albania, in aspirations to NATO. All three missed NATO's eastward expansion in 2004.
A key obstacle for Croatia's membership was removed in December with the arrest in Spain of ex-general Ante Gotovina, who had eluded a U.N. war crimes indictment since 2001.
Cheney flew to the Balkans on Saturday after a closed-door meeting in oil-rich Kazakhstan with opponents of the country's autocratic president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.
The vice president assured them the United States "would continue its support for political and economic reform" in the ex-Soviet Central Asian state, a government official said.
Washington has nudged Nazarbayev to broaden freedoms while taking pains not to antagonize him. He has ruled since 1989 but has never won a fair election. Opponents say the U.S. is putting oil and military interests ahead of democracy.
Saturday's meeting was marred by the government's decision to bar one of the invited guests from the capital Astana. Ambassador John Ordway was being dispatched to meet the man.
Illustrating the U.S. view of democratic trends in Russia compared to Kazakhstan, a briefer drew an arrow on a piece of paper. He pointed the arrow up for Nazarbayev's government. For Russia under Putin, he turned it toward the floor.
Cheney had been scheduled to return to Washington on Monday. But his press secretary, Lea Anne McBride, said he decided to leave on Sunday because he and his wife Lynne "just want ... to sleep in their own beds".
Let me take this opportunity to say that Cheney rocks!
His Excellency the Vice President makes a lot of sense.
How do you think, what should be OUR policy towards Balkan states, what long time strategy our goverment should imply?
why would anyone want to join a thorougly and utterly undemocratic/post-democratic 'super state wannabe' entity such as the EU?
For starters, we shouldn't be encouraging them to sell out their sovereignty to NWO-type organizations.
The EU is a myth, it is hard to fight with a myths. It is easy to sell something like this to inexpedient, often idealist people from the former communist countries. There is no reason for us to fight with the wind, they will join anyway. So plan “B” is necessary, “more countries in, better”. It will be not the same EU, simply too many groups of interests and the current agenda will be unable to control all these activities.
You are right but from the American perspective it is simply not profitable to oppose the EU. Perhaps Cheney doesn’t want to antagonize anybody. In the eyes of the “Balkaners” you will earn the same amount of the prestige like the EU. Now they don't need to chose between US and the EU. As you are aware not all countries in the EU are against US every move.
I don’t think that he stood up for the EU in any special way. If he would say that US support Croatia’s bid to NATO, it would sound strange. Reading between the lines, all people would understand that he oppose their entry to the EU. WHILE I’m almost sure that the Croatian president in his opening speech mentioned the EU.
No, it could easily be interpreted as meaning that he takes no position on it, because the U.S. is not a member of the EU and so therefore we're neutral on it. That's a perfectly respectable position for any country to take.
It would be as you wrote if the US would usually be so neutral and you are not.
Well many Europeans in the West already understood, that they are somehow just sucked out by some of their new "partners". Countries who apply for a EU-membership usually know, what it means in advance. If you join a club you have to accept usually the terms of membership in advance. To act destructive after joining in is simply betrayal. Sorry, but that's the plain truth.
Therefore it is quite likely that the Europeans in the East get what they want. A free trade zone and a quite exclusive club in western Europe, that will keep all those countries in "new" Europe out. Probably sooner than later. I.e. there is already a big countermovement in Germany, the UK and France to accept such "banana republics" like Bulgaria or Romania inside the EU (BTW - there is some reason for this stance). They are suitable for such millitary stuff like NATO, but they do not fit into a alliance like the EU. I doubt that the Bundestag (and some other parliaments in other countries) will wave aside their EU-application. There is already a hot discussion about this issue. You will find out that this is just the beginning. It is really quite naive to think that "old" Europe will accept every pool of BS.
Maybe the possibility of a alliance between those countries west of river Neisse and those east of it is also just a myth. Perhaps we should restrict ourselves simply to good neighbourhood without free trade zones, right of domicile or agro-subsidies. Not funny for Polish farmers and plumbers but good for us Germans. Besides - it works perfectly. Germany has a excellent relationsship with Russia without all this EU-crap. We even build pipelines together.
So in your opinion if we would want the EU to become more rightist, decentralized it is destructive act and betrayal?
Beside even if some of our political forces which never supported joining, tried to act destructive then how could it be a betrayal? However it is very unlikely that Samoobrona or LPR will push for withdrawal.
We even build pipelines together.
Go for it, but later do not expect any help from us when they will stop pumping.
To overburden the EU with problematic countries has nothing to do with changing it in a constructive way (which is nessecary). To paralyze the the EU with too many different voices has nothing to do with decentralizing it. The ambition of those people who represent this stance in your country is quite clear: They want to change the EU into a irrelevant cash-cow. Somehow a late reparation for the misfortune of 40 years of communist rule. You can be sure that we will not play this game.
Go for it, but later do not expect any help from us when they will stop pumping.
We do not expect any help since you will not be able to help us in this issue anyway. It is unrealistic to think that Poland will have the means to solve the energy problems of western Europe. I just wanted to be a littlebit cynical to express that I feel sad if our relationship is reduced to same level than the current German-Russian relation.
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