U.S. Starts Diplomatic Offensive On NATO Membership For Georgia And Ukraine

From The International Herald Tribune:

BERLIN: The United States has started a diplomatic offensive among NATO capitals in Europe, urging top diplomats to offer Georgia and Ukraine membership to the alliance without first fulfilling requirements under the Membership Action Plan, the process that sets out the criteria and conditions for eventually joining the military pact, according to NATO diplomats.

In an unexpected new initiative, Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. secretary of state, has already held lengthy telephone conversations with French and German and other senior envoys, asking them to discard the Membership Action Plan, added the diplomats.

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My Comment: this is going to steam the Russians big time. But my gut tells me that President Obama will be slowing down this process quickly so that he would not have any problems with Russia in his first year as President.