Romania's foreign minister met on Thursday with officials from the State Department, Pentagon, and National Security Council to discuss the potential transfer to Romania and Bulgaria of U.S. troops now in Germany.
US forces in Romania and Bulgaria will be closer to the Middle East and less subject to politics as we worried about in 2003 with our troops in Germany.
And US bases will reassure the former colonies of the Soviet Union. Sadly, Putin's Russia has given reasons for nervousness. His belief that Russia's "near abroad" (former Soviet republics that broke away) are Moscow's exclusive domain makes these independent nations nervous. Putin's actions in Ukraine were disturbing but we and our allies were successful in thwarting his attempts to reabsorb Ukraine in time.
The latest reasons arise from President Bush's trip to Europe to mark the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany:
Bush's trip has been clouded by Moscow's unhappiness about his stops in two former Soviet republics, Latvia and Georgia, which the Russians see as interference in its neighborhood. The president also will visit the Netherlands as well as Russia. Bush said he would tell Putin he should welcome peaceful democracies on Russia's borders. "
And so I will remind him that this is not a plot by anybody or any nation," Bush said. "This is just the inevitable course of humankind because all humans want to be free." Mr. Bush said the three Baltic countries, as new members of NATO, have a security guarantee from the United States and its allies. Bush said he speaks with Putin frequently about the Baltics.
It would be nice if we didn't have to reassure the newly independent states but Putin is increasingly authoritarian at home and nostalgic for empire. Reality has not sunk in with Putin yet.
He should be more worried about holding on to what Russia has now.
