No NATO Membership for Georgia And The Ukraine

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (R) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel smile in St. Petersburg. It is too soon for NATO to provide a membership action plan (MAP) to the ex-Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine, Merkel said Thursday. (AFP/POOL/Dmitry Astakhov)

Merkel Slows NATO Bids by Georgia and Ukraine
-- Wall Street Journal

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization won't give Georgia and Ukraine a road map to membership at a meeting later this year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday.

Meanwhile, Kiev took a step away from the West and closer to Moscow, as Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko announced gas deals with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and voiced support for Russian accession to the World Trade Organization.

Mrs. Merkel's rejection of a NATO track for Georgia and Ukraine, at a news conference with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in St. Petersburg, would effectively act as a veto. The Western military alliance operates by consensus.

U.S. officials had hoped a NATO ministerial meeting set for December might be the occasion for the alliance to extend a so-called Membership Action Plan, or MAP, to the two ex-Soviet States. However, any quick move toward their NATO membership grew less likely after Georgia's five-day war with Russia in August.

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My Comment: The Russian President was clearly successful in convincing the Germans to back down from embracing the idea of permitting Georgia and the Ukraine from joining NATO.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's personal appeal to the German leader clearly had an impact. The absence of any U.S. input is also revealing. It appears that the U.S. has made a decision to distance itself politically from the conflicts that plague the Russian Federation and its former Soviet Republics.

This is probably a wise move.