NATO's expansion into eastern Europe was bitterly resented by Russia. A feeling of betrayal was made worse by NATO's recent bombing in Yugoslavia. What is striking on reading this decree, is its similarity with NATO's New Strategic Concept. This is a very worrying development. It revives the possibility of a nuclear exchange between East and West.
Nuclear weapons continue to play a destabilising role in international relations.
Meanwhile, no progress has been made on international arms control discussions since 1995 and the NPT Review Conference in New York in April may well collapse under these pressures.