Реферат: NATO Essay Research Paper The North Atlantic

be in the future for this troubled culture. The organization has already placed

in the works the inclusion of the Czech Republic (formerly part of

Czechoslovakia), Hungary, and Poland. These talks are setting the stage for

NATO?s most significant expansion. These countries will need modern military

training, upgrades on their communications, command, and air defense systems at

an estimated cost of between $25 and $35 billion over thirteen years. The

members of NATO pay out this money, the US share being approximately $200

million over ten years. There was a time that even the thought of these

countries entering NATO peacefully was unheard of. These new members make

NATO?s interests in the Balkans even more timely. Over the past few years, the

establishment of a long-term stability in the Balkans has fallen on NATO?s

already overweighed shoulders. The former Yugoslavia is one area of Europe where

the end of the cold war has not brought about the general trend towards

openness, democracy and integration that we have seen elsewhere. Ending this

anomaly will mean looking beyond the time frame of NATO?s Stabilization Force

in Bosnia. Once the parties realize that settling differences peacefully and

democratically really is the only viable option, then Bosnia and other countries

in the region will have the right to the fullest integration into the

international community. In Kosovo, where the world community is facing

humanitarian, political and legal dilemmas, a solution must be found that allows

the Ethnic Albanians more autonomy within the confines of the Federal Republic

of Yugoslavia. In finding such a solution, we must avoid a situation where moral

considerations are pitted against international law. And we must remember that a

security policy that doesn?t take as its point of reference the needs of

humanity, risks suffering the worst possible fate- a slide into irrelevance. In

Kosovo?s immediate neighborhood, NATO has helped to provide hope and some

stability, as well as assistance in coping with the refugees in Albania and

Macedonia. The latter country is hosting a NATO extraction force, ready to

support the verification mission deployed in Kosovo. Hopefully, the prospect of