Bush's Last Lap

April 3, 2008

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Ali Frick, Benjamin Armbruster, and Matt Duss Contact Us | Tell-a-Friend | Archives | Permalink

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Bush's Last Lap

Departing on Monday for what some have termed "a farewell tour," President Bush will attend his final NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, followed by meetings with Russia's Vladimir Putin. The NATO summit "will host no fewer than 60 leaders from NATO states, partners and aspirant members, plus Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon." Bush's European trip takes place against the backdrop of what many have regarded as an arrogant and unilateralist foreign policy legacy, one "frayed by the Iraq war," the war in Afghanistan, and the United States's controversial and divisive global war on terror. "Many [European leaders] are looking forward now to the next president," said Julianne Smith, a Europe analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "There seems to be a great deal of enthusiasm...on the other side of the Atlantic, that there's going to be some revitalization of the trans-Atlantic partnership and we start with a clean slate and a new chapter." True to form, Bush began the NATO summit with a minor faux pas when he attempted to prematurely end a joint press conference, a privilege usually reserved for the host, in this case Romanian President Traian Basescu. Basescu indicated that he was not finished, and Bush was forced to return to his podium.

CONTINUING NATO OPERATIONS IN AFGHANISTAN, KOSOVO: "We expect our NATO allies to shoulder the burden necessary to succeed," Bush said of the mission in Afghanistan, in which 47,000 NATO forces are currently a part. "If we do not defeat the terrorists in Afghanistan, we will face them on our own soil. Innocent civilians in Europe and North America would then pay the price," Bush said. He pressed members of the 26-nation alliance to follow the example of France, Poland, and Romania in providing extra troops for Afghanistan. French President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed on Thursday that he intended to send a battalion (between 700 and 800) of French troops to Afghanistan, and later suggested that, in addition, "France might send 200 special forces." Also on the agenda was the continuing NATO operation in Kosovo, which recently declared independence from neighboring Serbia. According to the Center for American Progress's Spencer Boyer and Caroline Wadhams, "there has been sporadic violence in the region since independence was declared, including attacks on U.N. personnel and NATO forces." Over 15,000 NATO troops are currently stationed in Kosovo.

NATO ENLARGEMENT: Bush has indicated that he intends to push for NATO enlargement as one element of his foreign policy legacy. He stated, "NATO should welcome Georgia and Ukraine into the Membership Action Plan. And, NATO membership must remain open to all of Europe's democracies that seek it, and are ready to share in the responsibilities of NATO membership." At a separate conference earlier Wednesday, Bush stated that "NATO is no longer a static alliance focused on defending Europe from a Soviet tank invasion. ... It is now an expeditionary alliance that is sending its forces across the world to help secure a future of freedom and peace for millions." Bush "said he was prepared to argue his case at a dinner of all NATO leaders on Wednesday night." Russia strongly opposes further NATO enlargement in what it considers its sphere of influence. Germany and France have said they will block any invitation to Ukraine and Georgia. James Goldgeier of the Council on Foreign Relations stated that "the German position is that ... they would like to try to establish good relations with that [Russian] president. They don't want something like this, which Russia really opposes, to get in the way." On Thursday, NATO announced that it had "agreed to put off a plan to put Ukraine and Georgia on track to join the military alliance." NATO also announced that it would "not invite Macedonia to join after protests from Greece over Macedonia's name," though Albania and Croatia would be invited to join the organization.

MISSILE DEFENSE OPPOSED BY RUSSIA: Another major point of contention between the alliance and Russia is the proposed missile defense system. Bush has advocated siting parts of the system in Central and Eastern Europe, something Moscow also strongly opposes. Trying to calm Russian fears, Bush assured Russia that the missile defense plan "is not an attempt to resurrect Cold War tensions, [but] is necessary to counter an emerging threat from Iran." On Thursday, U.S. officials announced that they had secured agreements "to base a missile defense radar on Czech soil," as well as "10 interceptor missiles in Poland." On Sunday, Bush and Putin will meet at Putin's Black Sea residence. According to Kremlin sources, the two leaders "will sign a document outlining the framework for strategic relations between their two countries" at the meeting. The U.S.-Russia relationship has grown increasingly tense in the seven years since Bush and Putin's first meeting in June 2001, when press reports noted that the two men had "hit it off" like "the best of friends." In the intervening years, Bush has periodically indicated dissatisfaction with Russia's lack of democratic progress, and with Putin's steady consolidation of power. Having arranged for a former aide, Dmitry Medvedev, to take over the Russian presidency, Putin is unlikely to hand over the reins of power along with the office.