The foreign ministers of NATO member states have agreed to help Georgia and Ukraine develop their infrastructure and defence - but they fell short of creating firm plans for them to join.

The membership action plan (MAP) for Georgia and Ukraine was postponed due to concerns over political instability in Ukraine, and because of Georgia’s military conflict in South Ossetia in August this year. The MAP, launched in April 1999, assists those countries which want to join the alliance in their preparations by providing advice, assistance and practical support on all aspects of membership.

France, Italy, Germany and some other countries within the organisation say it’s too early for the two former Soviet states to get on the formal path towards NATO membership.

And Russia’s Ambassador to the EU believes the two countries would not bring the alliance any advantages.

“The more one looks into NATO enlargement - the more it becomes obvious that with this process NATO doesn’t get more cohesion and it doesn’t get more strength as a military bloc,” said Vladimir Chizhov.

Also, NATO foreign ministers have agreed to resume dialogue with Russia in “a selective mode,” the alliance’s Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a media conference on Tuesday.

“No business as usual doesn’t mean no business at all. Russia is an important player on many dossiers that are also on the NATO agenda,” he said.

Some member states say NATO's relations with Russia are too important to be sacrificed over Georgia and Ukraine. This view was reinforced when the organisation agreed on a conditional and gradual re-engagement with Moscow within the NATO-Russia Council, whose work was frozen after the August conflict in South Ossetia.

On August 8, Georgia launched a military campaign against South Ossetia. Russia intervened to protect the civilian population. The organisation accused Russia of using disproportionate force and suspended Russia-NATO Council meetings on all levels.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said: “A second major item for discussion among NATO Ministers will be our relations with Russia. After the Caucasus conflict, we decided that there could be no business as usual with Russia, and that we had to seriously review our relationship. Today, we will continue this review and will discuss the parameters for our engagement with Russia.”

The alliance is set to offer Moscow an informal meeting within the NATO Russia Council - to discuss how to proceed. Russia’s envoy to NATO says this was expected in Moscow.

“We didn't think Ukraine or Georgia would get MAPs at this summit - we thought all this would be disguised by very diplomatic words. And of course we predicted that NATO wouldn’t be able to stand alone, and that amid the dry rhetoric we'd hear words on the need for cooperation with Russia as an important partner,” said Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s Envoy to NATO.

The two day summit of NATO and partner nations’ foreign ministers will end on Wednesday December 3rd.

On the second day of the summit the NATO-Ukraine and NATO-Georgia commissions are discussing how the alliance can help the two countries advance in their reforms, to bring them closer to joining.

Ukraine between joy and despair…

Ukrainian society is split over joining NATO. Polls consistently show less than a third of the population supports the move with two thirds being strictly against.

More than 80 per cent believe a referendum should be held to decide on the issue.

And though the 'Our Ukraine' party, headed by president Yushchenko, has long supported joining NATO, it is facing a tough battle to win over the Ukrainian public.

At the same time, level of support for joining NATO differs dramatically throughout the country – from 16 per cent in the east to 69 per cent in the west of the country.

Smouldering anti-NATO protests take more acute forms, like during Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer’s visit to Ukraine in June and joint NATO ‘Sea Breeze 2008’ military exercises.

There is also no single attitude among experts towards the prospects of Ukraine one day joining NATO, as social research cited by Ukraine’s UNIAN news agency shows.

Some experts believe the move will help carry out security, defence and political reforms in the country.

They named as advantages getting guarantees of safety as a NATO member state, solving or resuming the problem of territorial solicitation on the part of other countries, building ally ties with the U.S. and a row of countries which refer to America’s ‘zone of influence’.

But experts name as drawbacks exacerbation of relations with Russia, the possibility that Ukraine be used by the U.S. for confrontation with Russia and increasing the risk of global terrorism.

The research says the majority of experts believe that there is a possibility for Ukraine to join NATO but only in a considerable period of time.

…and Georgia indifferent

Georgia’s Prime Minister played down the disappointment of not getting the membership action plan. Grigol Mgaloblishvili said that deep integration into NATO is currently the main priority for Tbilisi. He pointed out that the “promise by NATO member states given in Bucharest still remains.”
 
‘Saakashvili to blame’

Meanwhile, Georgia joining the NATO has been postponed for an indefinite period of time because of the “Georgian leadership’s unreasonable policy” – according to an opposition party leader.

New Rights leader Davis Gamkrelidze said: "Now the Georgian leadership says Georgia wasn’t aiming at getting a MAP for joining NATO. But let them not cheat themselves and us as well.

“Thanks to that manipulation many people believed that Georgia defeated Russia in August, and now they are going to present the events as a decision made in Brussels to speed up the process of Georgia joining the alliance.”

On Wednesday, Georgia’s Deputy Prime Minister Georgy Baramidze said: “After a sharp debate in Brussels on Tuesday, Georgia has made a step towards joining NATO, and though this is not the MAP - but this is an important element bringing Georgia and NATO closer together.”

Source >  Russia Today | dec 03

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