Donnelly, the top civilian adviser to Secretary General Javier Solana, briefed reporters at the National Press Club. I go to Russia more than any other country in Central Europe. We have to do more to help Russia understand what the organization is, and we have to help Central European countries understand that, too, so that they can collaborate with us more, develop democratic institutions, reform the whole community, because that's their task. But enlargement is all that the press focuses on, Donnelly observed. There's no credibility of any form of aggression on a major scale.
People invest in safe places.
The transatlantic link provides for reassurance. Engaging Russia, as it transforms, provides a reassurance. And the possibility of becoming members is a tremendous incentive for reform and stabilization in Central European countries. That's really a harmful approach. And that's behind a lot of the opposition to NATO, I find.