Kommersant

U.S. uses NATO as a tool to integrate Russia into its project for a new world
order - expert

The current reset of NATO-Russia relations shows the alliance remains a vehicle
for United States foreign and defense policy and that signals coming from
Washington are imperative for NATO, writes Mikhail Barabanov, editor-in-chief of
Moscow Defense Brief. Not surprisingly, the Obama administration's new line
towards Moscow was at once extended to Russian-NATO relations.

At first glance, this cooperation between the sides is prompted by U.S. interest
in Russian assistance on Afghanistan. More deeply, however, Washington seeks to
use NATO to integrate Russia into its project for a new world order. To do so, it
wants to transform the alliance. Though NATO's role is still to defend Europe from
Russia, its other function is gradually coming to the fore - that of being an
instrument to use force outside Europe.

NATO's anti-Russian role is declining for obvious reasons. Russia is no longer

able to pose an effective threat to the alliance with its non-nuclear forces,
especially since the current reform of its army is converting it into a weapon for
local conflicts, mainly in the former Soviet republics. At the same time,
permanent cuts in the armed forces of NATO countries have rendered them incapable
of taking an effective part in any serious conventional war. Therefore, military
confrontation between NATO and Russia in Europe is becoming, from the Western
point of view, a less probable scenario.

Russia is being offered no serious role in European security - from the point of
view of the U.S. and Europe, NATO is quite capable of coping with this mission on
its own. The U.S. and Europe consider Russia "harmless" and weak and believe NATO
can refocus on supporting American policy outside Europe. In exchange, Russia is
offered the West's recognition of the status quo in Europe and postponement of
admission to NATO of Ukraine and other former Soviet republics. Russia has been
recognized as a regional power, but only to a certain extent and only in exchange
for its help. These arrangements will stand as long as the U.S. is interested in
cooperation with Moscow on specific issues.

The current session of cooperation with NATO is unlikely to bring Moscow long-term
military and political dividends - particularly in the face of growing risks from
further involvement in Afghanistan. On the other hand, the alliance's rechanneling
of military efforts from Europe to Afghanistan will benefit Russia - especially
now that Russia is reforming its army. So it makes military and political sense
for Russia to accept the current reset of relations with NATO.

~~~~~

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

New round of struggle to end Cold War

The idea of a new European security pact as proposed by Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev is more important than it may appear, and not only because the war in
South Ossetia exposed the ineffectiveness of the current security system, a
Russian analyst writes.

Sergei Karaganov, dean of the world economy and policy faculty at the Higher
School of Economics in Moscow, writes that the Cold War is not over, even though
Communism was defeated and military confrontation ended in the early 1990s.
The West rushed to assume control of the countries from which Russia withdrew its
troops, and declared the concept of zones of geopolitical influence, or zones of
interests, obsolete. It mainly stressed that Russia had no right to such zones.

Meanwhile, the West unceremoniously expanded its zone of influence, if not

domination, to Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries in the most
sensitive military political sphere.

The Russian analyst writes that the NATO expansion was launched for that purpose
and it continued until Russia repelled the Georgian onslaught in South Ossetia. It
is a shame that Russia's more prosperous and advanced neighbors failed to heed our
arguments and opened their eyes and ears only when Russia complemented its
arguments with an iron fist, Karaganov writes.

The actual refusal of the West to end the Cold War seriously hampered Russia's
democratic and liberal development because a pro-Western development path entailed
neglect for national interests.

Russia's current foreign policy leaders are not Chekisti (secret police) or people
with a post-Soviet syndrome but mostly liberal pro-Western diplomats who have
become disillusioned with the West. The Western geopolitical expansion policies
and refusal to respect Russia's legitimate security interests have undermined the
modernization trends traditionally associated in Russia with Western influence.

A new European security treaty would benefit all sides, Karaganov writes. The
West, which thought it had won the Cold War, is only now coming to see that
victory was snatched by China and the other new giants. But it is not ready to
admit its mistake, and so NATO and the OSCE have so far not announced a stance
regarding Russia's recent proposal. The press is only repeating old arguments,
although less passionately.

This is a new round of struggle to end the Cold War. The future of Medvedev's
initiative looks increasingly optimistic, but there is a long trip uphill toward
implementing it.