An Open Letter to the Obama Administration
From Non-NATO, Non-EU EasternEurope
On July 16, 2009, the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza published an open letter to the administration of President Obama raising crucial issues pertaining to the Euro-Atlantic partnership. It was signed by some 22 foreign policy and security elites from the newer NATO and EU members— self-styled Central and Eastern European (CEE) intellectuals. Whether implicitly or explicitly, al the matters they touched on concern the dynamics of current and likely future events in their region of Europe vis-a-vis Russia. Their call for a reengaged, collaborative United States as a true partner with Europe in addressing concerns of the region was eloquent, accurate and most timely.
Regrettably their letter omitted input, or at least signatures, of their counterparts from those Eastern European states which unfortunately do not at present enjoy the luxury ( and security guarantees) of NATO and EU membership—Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. Not coincidentally, they are the ones closest to Russia and the ones, in the cases of Belarus and Ukraine, having had by far the longest experience with Soviet Russian communism. This experience is of particularly crucial value now in the context of evolving developments and trends.
All the issues raised by the authors of the Open Letter published in Gazeta Wyborcza -- and many, many more – apply even more vitally to these countries. Last year’s Russo-Georgian conflict is no doubt the most graphic demonstration, but hardly the only one. Moscow’s economic blackmail, most recently, of Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, to force them into the Kremlin’s revisionist line of post-Soviet spheres of influence is a less publicized but no less real threat to their future. Periodic energy blackmail by Russia of all six of these countries became the norm in this first decade of the 21 st century.
Through its long domination by, first, Russia and then the Soviet Union our homeland of Belarus is a special case and needs special attention. We discern that the present “constellation of forces” — economic, political, security—may be propitious for bringing about that “change we can believe in” which your administration has enunciated and which has captured the imagination of people everywhere.
With most welcome wisdom, the European Union has responded to evolving realities in Eastern Europe, notably through its Eastern Partnership initiative. Now we call on the United States to join in with equal vision and vigor. For al the reasons pointed out by the signers of the July 16 Open Letter from their vantage point in NATO and EU member countries, we too call on the United States to carpe diem. Please engage with us and with our NATO and EU friends from Central and Eastern Europe. We have much to offer from our perspective outside these organizations. And our needs are ever so great. We look to America, just as we look to Europe, for the wisdom and spirit these times demand.
Signed: Stanislau Shushkevich
Former Speaker, Belarus Parliament
First Head of State, Republic of Belarus
Ivonka Survilla
President of the Rada
Belarus Democratic Republic in Exile
This article appeared in
Belarusian Review, Vol. 21, No. 3
---------------------------------------------
Copyright 2009 Belarusian Review
All rights reserved.
belarusianreview@hotmailcom
|
