Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 10, 1994 TAG: 9401100074
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM LENGTH: Medium
But he warned that the allies must reach out quickly to help the nations of the former Soviet empire or risk seeing their precarious democracies overwhelmed by "the grim pretenders to tyranny's dark throne" - the ultranationalists who have shown strength across Russia and parts of Eastern Europe.
If America and Western Europe work as hard to unite with their former adversaries as they did to contain communism, then the 21st century can be the "most exciting period that Europe and the United States have ever known," Clinton said, speaking in the medieval Town Hall of this NATO headquarters city on the eve of his summit with allied heads of state.
Integrating the former Communist bloc countries with the rest of Europe will be difficult, he acknowledged, especially while European countries are experiencing economic difficulties of their own, but he cautioned that the opportunity to do so may be fleeting.
"We must not now let the Iron Curtain be replaced with a veil of indifference," he said. "For history will judge us as it judged with scorn those who preached isolationism between the world wars, and as it has judged with praise the bold architects of the trans-Atlantic community after World War II."
Clinton will formally outline his "Partnership for Peace" plan when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit officially begins today. The plan is designed to balance concern in Europe and the United States about responding too quickly to East European requests for NATO membership against concern that excluding the former satellites could come back to haunt the West if Russian nationalism should once again rear its head.
The partnership would open the door to political, military and economic cooperation with all of NATO's former adversaries, including Russia, Ukraine and the other newly independent states of the old Soviet Union.
A senior Clinton aide said the United States is close to reaching an agreement with Ukraine to destroy its massive nuclear arsenal in return for a multibillion-dollar aid package for its collapsing economy.
Seeking to allay the concerns of European leaders who have felt that under Clinton the United States was shifting its focus from Europe to the Pacific Rim, the president said he had come to Brussels to demonstrate that Europe "remains central to the interests of the United States, and that we will work with our partners in seizing the opportunities before us all."
While the United States must continue to reach out to both Asia and Latin America, he said Europe remains "our most valued partner, not just in the cause of democracy and freedom, but also in the economics of trade and investment."
Above all, the core of U.S. security remains with Europe, he said, and thus he is committed to keeping roughly 100,000 troops stationed in Europe, consistent with the desire of the allies.
Clinton envisions a new system of security that would bind a broader Europe together "with a strong fabric woven of military cooperation, prosperous market economies and vital democracies."
by CNB