The European Union has now decided to begin negotiations with six aspirants, including the three candidates NATO is considering. So long as the option to join NATO remains open, it utterly undercuts the partnership as the preferred mode of cooperation. It would allow the United States and Russia to focus on the gravest security problem still before us, the formidable hangover of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. The cooperative framework provided by the NATO-Russia Founding Act may be useful, but frictions over NATO distract Moscow and Washington from profound common dangers. Even if everything goes right in expanding NATO, we will have misplaced our priorities during a critical window of opportunity to gain Russian cooperation in controlling nuclear arsenals and preventing proliferation.
Russian antagonism is sure to grow if the alliance extends ever closer to Russian territory.
The Senate would be wise to link NATO and European Union expansion. NATO should weigh any future applicant against the contributions and burdens its membership would entail. What is called for is a definite, if not permanent, pause in this process. By leading the charge for NATO expansion, the Clinton Administration may well elicit hasty proposals and considerable pressure to admit other countries. Other Central and East European countries are hoping that they, too, will soon be welcomed into allied ranks.