MOSCOW -- The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was established after World War II to protect Western Europe from a possible Soviet invasion. Once the Soviet empire crumbled, it was left without a purpose. In the euphoria of 1989-1991, it seemed that democracy and humanism had triumphed throughout Europe, and that peace on the Continent would rely on jet fighters and cruise missiles. But then Yugoslavia and other Eastern bloc nations descended into ethnic conflict. Russia chose nationalism as its new ideology. It soon became apparent that it was too early to disband NATO.
The alliance started spreading east, into the territory of the former Warsaw Pact. Moscow became hysterical, claiming it had been betrayed by the West. The Kremlin announced that the inclusion of any Eastern European country into NATO would be regarded as a hostile act. Still, after much hullabaloo, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic joined the alliance. Moscow declared it would never forget the humiliating episode. Yet, in November when seven more Eastern European countries joined in -- Slovenia, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia -- the Kremlin had little to say.
Why? Was it because of the bond of trust between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart, George W. Bush? Was it because of the more tangible threat to Russia's security posed by Islamic fundamentalism? Or was it due to the changed nature of NATO?