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n open letter this letter is so incredibly important it should be read by rush limbaugh and commented on fox news from opendemocracy 24 07 2009 h t costin at pb br a group of politicians former heads of state and presidents ambassadors and scholars from bulgaria the czech republic estonia hungary latvia lithuania poland romania and slovakia expresses concern to the united states president about the consequences of washington s inattention to a vital region and makes six proposals for a new era the signatories of this letter are valdas adamkus martin butora emil constantinescu pavol demes lubos dobrovsky matyas eorsi istvan gyarmati vaclav havel rastislav kacer sandra kalniete karel schwarzenberg michal kovac ivan krastev alexander kwasniewski mart laar kadri liik janos martonyi janusz onyszkiewicz adam rotfeld vaira vike freiberga alexandr vondra lech walesa this article was first published on 22 july 2009 24 07 2009 dear president obama we have written this letter because as intellectuals and former policy makers in central and eastern europe cee we care deeply about the future of the transatlantic relationship as well as the future quality of relations between the united states and the countries of our region we write in our personal capacity as individuals who are friends and allies of the united states as well as committed europeans our nations are deeply indebted to the united states many of us know firsthand how important your support for our freedom and independence was during the dark cold war years us engagement and support was essential for the success of our democratic transitions after the iron curtain fell in 1989 without washington s vision and leadership it is doubtful that we would be in nato and even the european union today we have worked to reciprocate and make this relationship a two way street we are atlanticist voices within nato and the eu our nations have been engaged alongside the united states in the balkans iraq and today in afghanistan while our contribution may at times seem modest compared to your own it is significant when measured as a percentage of our population and gdp having benefited from your support for liberal democracy and liberal values in the past we have been among your strongest supporters when it comes to promoting democracy and human rights around the world twenty years after the end of the cold war however we see that central and eastern european countries are no longer at the heart of american foreign policy as your administration sets its foreign policy priorities our region is one part of the world that americans have largely stopped worrying about indeed at times we have the impression that us policy was so successful that many american officials have now concluded that our region is fixed once and for all and that they could check the box and move on to other more pressing strategic issues relations have been so close that many on both sides assume that the region s transatlantic orientation as well as its stability and prosperity would last forever a new opening that view is premature all is not well either in our region or in the transatlantic relationship central and eastern europe is at a political crossroads and today there is a growing sense of nervousness in the region the global economic crisis is impacting on our region and as elsewhere carries the risk that our societies will look inward and be less engaged with the outside world at the same time storm clouds are starting to gather on the foreign policy horizon like you we await the results of the eu commission s investigation on the origins of the russia georgia war of august 2008 but the political effect of that war on the region has already been felt many countries were deeply disturbed to see the atlantic alliance stand by as russia violated the core principles of the helsinki final act 1975 the charter of paris 1990 and the territorial integrity of a country that was a member of nato s partnership for peace and the euro atlantic partnership council all in the name of defending a sphere of influence on its borders despite the efforts and significant contribution of the new members nato today seems weaker than when we joined in many of our countries it is perceived as less and less relevant and we feel it although we are full members people question whether nato would be willing and able to come to our defence in some future crises europe s dependence on russian energy also creates concern about the cohesion of the alliance your remark at the nato summit of 3 4 april 2009 on the need to provide credible defence plans for all alliance members was welcome but not sufficient to allay fears about the alliance s defence readiness our ability to continue to sustain public support at home for our contributions to alliance missions abroad also depends on us being able to show that our own security concerns are being addressed in nato and close cooperation with the united states we must also recognise that america s popularity and influence have fallen in many of our countries as well public opinion polls including the german marshall fund s own transatlantic trends survey show that our region has not been immune to the wave of criticism and anti americanism that has swept europe in recent years and which led to a collapse in sympathy and support for the united states during the george w bush years some leaders in the region have paid a political price for their support of the unpopular war in iraq in the future they may be more careful in taking political risks to support the united states we believe that the onset of a new administration has created a new opening to reverse this trend but it will take time and work on both sides to make up for what we have lost a period of transition in many ways the european union has become the major factor and institution in our lives to many people it seems more relevant and important today than the link to the united states to some degree it is a logical outcome of the integration of central and eastern europe into the eu our leaders and officials spend much more time in eu meetings than in consultations with washington where they often struggle to attract attention or make our voices heard the region s deeper integration in the eu is of course welcome and should not necessarily lead to a weakening of the transatlantic relationship the hope was that integration of central and eastern europe into the eu would actually strengthen the strategic cooperation between europe and america however there is a danger that instead of being a pro atlantic voice in the eu support for a more global partnership with washington in the region might wane over time the region does not have the tradition of assuming a more global role some items on the transatlantic agenda such as climate change do not resonate in the central and eastern european publics to the same extent as they do in western europe leadership change is also coming in central and eastern europe next to those there are fewer and fewer leaders who emerged from the revolutions of 1989 who experienced washington s key role in securing our democratic transition and anchoring our countries in nato and the eu a new generation of leaders is emerging who do not have these memories and follow a more realistic policy at the same time the former communist elites whose insistence on political and economic power significantly contributed to the crises in many cee countries gradually disappear from the political scene the current political and economic turmoil and the fallout from the global economic crisis provide additional opportunities for the forces of nationalism extremism populism and anti semitism across the continent but also in some our countries this means that the united states is likely to lose many of its traditional interlocutors in the region the new elites replacing them may not share the idealism or have the same relationship to the united states as the generation who led the democratic transition they may be more calculating in their support of the united states as well as more parochial in their world view and in washington a similar transition is taking place as many of the leaders and personalities we have worked with and relied on are also leaving politics a time to reinvest then there is the issue of how to deal with russia our hopes that relations with russia would improve and that moscow would finally fully accept our complete sovereignty and independence after joining nato and the eu have not been fulfilled instead russia is back as a revisionist power pursuing a 19th century agenda with 21st century tactics and methods at a global level russia has become on most issues a status quo power but at a regional level and vis à vis our nations it increasingly acts as a revisionist one it challenges our claims to our own historical experiences it asserts a privileged position in determining our security choices it uses overt and covert means of economic warfare ranging from energy blockades and politically motivated investments to bribery and media manipulation in order to advance its interests and to challenge the transatlantic orientation of central and eastern europe we welcome the reset of the american russian relations as the countries living closest to russia obviously nobody has a greater interest in the development of the democracy in russia and better relations between moscow and the west than we do but there is also nervousness in our capitals we want to ensure that too narrow an understanding of western interests does not lead to the wrong concessions to russia today the concern is for example that the united states and the major european powers might embrace the medvedev plan for a concert of powers to replace the continent s existing value based security structure the danger is that russia s creeping intimidation and influence peddling in the region could over time lead to a de facto neutralization of the region there are differing views within the region when it comes to moscow s new policies but there is a shared view that the full engagement of the united states is needed many in the region are looking with hope to the barack obama administration to restore the atlantic relationship as a moral compass for their domestic as well as foreign policies a strong commitment to common liberal democratic values is essential to our countries we know from our own historical experience the difference between when the united states stood up for its liberal democratic values and when it did not our region suffered when the united states succumbed to realism at the yalta conference february 1945 and it benefited when the united states used its power to fight for principle that was critical during the cold war and in opening the doors of nato if a realist view had prevailed in the early 1990s we would not be in nato today and the idea of a europe whole free and at peace would be a distant dream we understand the heavy demands on your administration and on us foreign policy it is not our intent to add to the list of problems you face rather we want to help by being strong atlanticist allies in a us european partnership that is a powerful force for good around the world but we are not certain where our region will be in five or ten years time given the domestic and foreign policy uncertainties we face we need to take the right steps now to ensure the strong relationship between the united states and central and eastern europe over the past twenty years will endure we believe this is a time both the united states and europe need to reinvest in the transatlantic relationship we also believe this is a time when the united states and central and eastern europe must reconnect around a new and forward looking agenda while recognising what has been achieved in the twenty years since the fall of the iron curtain it is time to set a new agenda for close cooperation for the next twenty years across the atlantic a new programme therefore we propose the following six steps first we are convinced that america needs europe and that europe needs the united states as much today as in the past the united states should reaffirm its vocation as a european power and make clear that it plans to stay fully engaged on the continent even while it faces the pressing challenges in afghanistan and pakistan the wider middle east and asia for our part we must work at home in our own countries and in europe more generally to convince our leaders and societies to adopt a more global perspective and be prepared to shoulder more responsibility in partnership with the united states second we need a renaissance of nato as the most important security link between the united states and europe it is the only credible hard power security guarantee we have nato must reconfirm its core function of collective defense even while we adapt to the new threats of the 21st century a key factor in our ability to participate in nato s expeditionary missions overseas is the belief that we are secure at home we must therefore correct some self inflicted wounds from the past it was a mistake not to commence with proper article 5 related defence planning for new members after nato was enlarged nato needs to make the alliance s commitments credible and provide strategic reassurance to all members this should include contingency planning prepositioning of forces equipment and supplies for reinforcement in our region in case of crisis as originally envisioned in the nato russia founding act we should also rethink the working of the nato russia council and return to the practice where nato member countries enter into dialogue with moscow with a coordinated position when it comes to russia our experience has been that a more determined and principled policy toward moscow will not only strengthen the west s security but will ultimately lead moscow to follow a more cooperative policy as well furthermore the more secure we feel inside nato the easier it will also be for our countries to reach out to engage moscow on issues of common interest that is the dual track approach we need and which should be reflected in the new nato strategic concept third the thorniest issue may well be america s planned missile defence installations here too there are different views in the region including among our publics which are divided regardless of the military merits of this scheme and what washington eventually decides to do the issue has nevertheless also become at least in some countries a symbol of america s credibility and commitment to the region how it is handled could have a significant impact on their future transatlantic orientation the small number of missiles involved cannot be a threat to russia s strategic capabilities and the kremlin knows this we should decide the future of the programme as allies and based on the strategic plusses and minuses of the different technical an...