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Guest Commentary: June 30, 2001
U.S. Security Interests in Europe
The Honorable Jesse Helms
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There should be no doubt that the transatlantic relationship is America's most important partnership, and that NATO is our most important Alliance. Acting together, Europe and America are the core of global power and stability. Together we energize the world economy. Our community consists of the world’s most successful democracies. And, NATO has proved itself to be history's most effective and powerful political and military Alliance.
President Bush's visit to Europe underscored his clear recognition of these basic truths. I am so pleased with the leadership and commitment he demonstrated to our Euro-Atlantic partnership. He cogently and forthrightly explained the rationale behind his major policy initiatives, including missile defense and NATO enlargement. Most importantly, he articulated his views in a manner that framed a coherent and powerful vision for the transatlantic community.
In this regard the President's speech in Warsaw was truly historic. It may well be remembered as one of the defining moments of his administration. Building upon his discussion in Brussels with NATO heads of government, the President’s speech moved decisively forward the debate over NATO enlargement.
We are no longer quibbling over whether and when. It is now an unambiguous Alliance priority for additional NATO membership invitations to be issued during its summit meeting in Prague next year. The question now is: how many?
In my mind that list must include the three Baltic democracies: Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Failure to fulfill this goal would undermine the moral and strategic imperatives of American engagement in Europe.
[The Administration must] now focus on what is necessary to ensure that these three former captive nations will be invited to join NATO during the Alliance's summit meeting in Prague next year. ...
I fully appreciate and support our President's refusal to accommodate the Kremlin’s opposition to missile defense and NATO enlargement. ...
But, I would be misleading... if I did not admit to raising my eyebrows over the assertion that Mr. Putin is "trustworthy," "a remarkable leader," and a man with whom we "share common values." I criticized officials from the previous Administration for using nearly those exact words to describe Mr. Putin.
We must not forget that under Mr. Putin's leadership, the press has once again felt the jackboot of repression; arms control treaty obligations remain unfulfilled and violated; dangerous weapons technologies have been transferred to rogue states; Georgia's and Ukraine's security has been threatened; and, a brutal, indiscriminate military campaign in Chechnya continues unabated.
For these reasons, Mr. Putin is far from deserving the powerful political prestige and influence that comes from an excessively personal endorsement by the President of the United States. Indeed, prematurely personalizing this relationship only undercuts the incentives he has to reorient Russia's domestic and foreign policy goals – goals I know that this Administration shares. ...
I commend the decision to unify the State Department's offices responsible for U.S. policy toward Europe and what we mistakenly still call the New Independent States. I have always been uncomfortable with previous bureaucratic structure that segmented U.S. policy toward Europe and the successor states of the former Soviet Union.
That bureaucratic structure contradicted our vision of an undivided Europe that includes the Russian people. It bureaucratically ostracized important European countries, such as Ukraine, from our vision of a Europe whole and free.
Note: This column has been adapted from a statement Sen. Helms delivered during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, June 20, 2001.
 How to contact Senator Jesse Helms (R-North Carolina)
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