Not everyone is pleased with the nuclear rapprochement between the United States and Russia. According to this article by Maurin Picard of France’s Le Figaro, Eastern Europeans are looking on with a mixture of frustration and dread, as it appears to some that the NATO membership they obtained at such cost appears to be dropping in value.
For Le Figaro, Maurin Picard writes in part:
Barack Obama’s efforts weren’t yet complete after the historic handshake he exchanged with Dmitri Medvedev on Thursday in Prague. While the Russian president returned to Moscow as soon as the START Treaty signing ceremony ended, his American counterpart prepared to extend his stay in the Czech capital by several hours. It was time to entertain at dinner, eleven heads of state and government from central and eastern Europe at the American ambassador’s residence, before taking off for Washington aboard Air Force One on Friday morning.
Far from a formality, this meal among allies was of vital importance for the White House chief, who had to listen to the ably-expressed grievances of his Czech, Slovak, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian and Baltic partners over the apparent honeymoon between their host and Dmitry Medvedev.
For a decade, the former satellite states of Moscow had thought that by joining NATO one after the other, they were protecting themselves against a resurgence of Russian imperialism. But Washington’s new nuclear doctrine which was unveiled Tuesday, the START Treaty to reduce Russian and American arsenals, and after the Georgian crisis during the summer of 2009, old fears have been stirred.
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