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U.S. decision on missile defense elements in Europe could be revised in next Congress – Brzezinski
There is no urgency in the immediate deployment of U.S. missile defense elements in Eastern Europe, former U.S. national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski told Interfax in an interview.
It would be absolutely justified for the next U.S. Congress to again have a critical look at these proposals, Brzezinski said.
Noting that, while it is hard to tell what each candidate for the U.S. presidency will do, Brzezinski said the Congress, with its democratic majority, will be skeptical of this idea.
He also said he knew little about the missile defense elements in question but suggested that they were unlikely to be directed against Russia.
Commenting on Russia’s concerns about Ukraine’s and Georgia’s possible accession to NATO, Brzezinski said Russia should not be wary about that.
NATO’s possible enlargement, with Ukraine and Georgia becoming its members, is going hand in hand with the European Union’s enlargement, which is forming a developing Euro-Atlantic community, Brzezinski said. This is no longer an alliance aimed against Moscow and the Soviet Union; the countries wishing to join it make a purposeful decision to become part of the European Union and join larger security institutions, to which the EU countries also belong, he said.
Opposing this and perceiving this as a hostile act reflects the Kremlin’s nostalgia for its imperial dominance of these countries in the past, he said.
If Moscow perceived this not as a hostile act but as normal evolution toward a greater Euro-Atlantic community, if would be easier in the future to set up a structure mutually beneficial both for the EU and Russia and for NATO and Russia, he said.
In a long-term perspective, this would be extremely desirable, but this seems less likely if Russia resorts to the policy of humiliation and even threats to prevent Georgia’s and Ukraine’s EU and NATO aspirations, he said.
Brzezinski suggested that neither Georgia nor Ukraine is yet prepared to join the alliance, but the door should not be closed to them, and Ukraine and Georgia should prepare to join NATO by working together with it now.
The Membership Action Plan (MAP) for Ukraine and Georgia is the only thing under consideration now, but, even if it is granted to them, this would not yet mean the decision to admit them, Brzezinski said. On the other hand, denying these countries the chance to join MAP would be a negative and unjustified decision, he said.
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