In his pledge to invite new members into NATO in 1999, President Clinton has once more paraded a Republican idea as if it were his own, and some Republicans don't like it. Some are grumbling that he's just pandering to those Americans who trace their ancestry to Central and Eastern Europe. Or maybe, it has been suggested, he's trying to divert attention away from suspect campaign contributions from Indonesia.
But whatever the president's motive, the policy is a good one.It's true that some people have come to believe the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a military force without a cause. They concede that NATO's presence helped keep Europe politically and economically stable during the Cold War, thereby contributing as well to the security and economic good of the United States. And yet, they point out, it was erected to provide for Europe's collective security in the event of an attack by the Soviet Union, which has now gone away.
Russia, however, has not gone away. Few people can observe the current political uncertainties there, or pay heed to the chest-thumping talk of some of its leaders, without understanding that so well-armed a land could still pose a threat to Europe.
Not only should NATO stay put, but beginning with Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, some former parts of the Soviet empire also should be welcomed aboard. Those nations, after all, still have good reason to fear Russia, and inclusion would buttress their evolution as democracies with free-market economies.
The central question in U.S. foreign policy is always whether American interests are being served. Although America's global interests may come to reside more with Asia than Europe in the decades ahead, European nations remain crucial trading partners and military allies. Those allies should carry more of the economic and military burden of NATO operations in some instances than they have in the past, but a failure to support and expand the organization would be to make outside aggression more likely and to put American interests gravely at risk, as legislation enacted this year underlines.
President Clinton, who has been avoiding foreign policy discussions for most of the campaign, was right to take up this topic in a speech this week in Detroit, and the Republicans really ought to relax and realize that, even if they appear far behind in the presidential election, at least they are winning on some vital issues.