The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.2000, Blaðsíða 27

Vol. 55 #4
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
325
vacuum, waiting to be filled by the reborn
imperial ambition of a new generation of
nationalist leaders in Russia, seeking to divert
the attention of dissatisfied Russians from
their aborted domestic reform.
Just like West-Europeans in 1945, more
than a hundred million people in Central- and
Eastern Europe seek the security of belonging
to NATO, which will enable them to concen-
trate on the task of rebuilding their economies
and their prosperity. The reform-movement in
Central and Eastern Europe gets its impetus
from having to reach the set goals and from
having to adhere to the standards set for earn-
ing membership, be it of NATO, the EU or
both.
This is a truly historic opportunity for
realizing the dream of a “Europe Whole and
Free.” European integration within the EU
and the enlargement of NATO, to cover the
whole of Europe in an indivisible security
system, this is the most significant and posi-
tive development in contemporary Europe,
designed to secure peace and prosperity in a
new millennium.
And lessons to be learned
Old mindsets and concepts, belonging to
a hopefully bygone era of the colonial age,
such as “buffer states” or “spheres of influ-
ence” or “near abroad” should not be allowed
to thwart the hopes of a new generation of
Europeans, who wish to build a new future,
based on common values of the rule of law,
democracy and human rights.
Sometimes we are asked: NATO may
have been successful in the past, but what pur-
pose does it serve in the future, since the old
enemy, the Soviet Union, no longer exists?
Perhaps this often repeated question reflects a
more fundamental misunderstanding?
Perhaps “the enemy” was never the Soviet
Union as such but rather the historical and
ideological heritage of autocracy and totalitar-
ianism which expresses itself in the suppres-
sion of democratic and humanitarian rights,
which rejects democratic and therefore by
definition peaceful solutions; and in doing so
instinctively resorts to systematic violence to
impose its will upon others. Where does that
road lead to? The twentieth century has taught
us the answers. That path leads in the end to
the extermination camps of the Nazis; to the
Soviet gulag and to the ethnic cleansing, now
being attempted by means of civil wars, in at
least 20 places on earth.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, after
the division of the world between two nuclear
armed superpowers, in the name of irreconcil-
able ideologies, is over we have entered upon
a new era, which can best be defined or char-
acterized by one word: Globalization. The
driving force in this new system is the free
flow of knowledge, technology, ideas, capital
and people across all artificial borders. The
new division of the world is between those,
on the one hand, who embrace those new
trends as a liberating force, participate in it
and try to take advantage of it; and those, on
the other hand, who in the name of tradition or
preservation of the status quo reject this
development. And by doing so condemn
themselves to a status of inferiority and stag-
nation. The real reason behind the fall of the
once mighty Soviet Union was that the
closed, conservative and centralized system
of communism excluded itself from reaping
the benefits of technological progress, which
gradually changed the world around them,
through the means of freedom of trade and
globalization.
The example of the successful restoration
of W-Europe after the war should serve us as
an example for how the Western Alliance
should proceed in assisting the ongoing
reform process in the Eastern half of Europe.
This development is certainly not directed
against the national interest of Russia. No
nation in this century has paid a higher price
for instability and aggression than the Russian
people. Russian leaders need to concentrate
all their capabilities and energy to restore
their great nation to economic health and
prosperity. For this task they need peace and
stability in the years ahead. A peaceful and
prosperous Eastern Europe does not pose any
threat to Russia. On the contrary. A prosper-
ous and confident Europe can only make the
task of rebuilding Russia an easier one.
On the occasion of the 50 year anniver-
sary of NATO, NATO leaders at the
Washington summit last year welcomed the
first three new members since the end of the
cold war: Hungary, Poland and the Czech