Position Paper - NATO and Ukraine

Aquí mi ultimo position paper hecho para la simulación del Circulo de Estudios de las Naciones Unidas sobre NATO Enlargement and Ukraine. Representando a Alemania, dio la curiosidad de que las políticas de mí país reflejaban las mías.

Ahi va:

POSITION PAPER
NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION
THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
"NATO AND UKRAINE"

Twenty years ago, the Soviet era saw the beginning of its demise in German streets and Berliner picks. Yet while the bricks of Berlin’s wall came tumbling down, the questions of a new world order sprout to life. Not only did we face the challenge of German reunification, not only did we face a lurking unipolarity, but the vacuum of power left by the dissolve of the Warsaw Pact. What was then to happen to its long-time rival, Nato?

Nato partners on both sides of the Atlantic embarked in a journey of self discovery that took us to realise that our military strategies in Europe had to change. Thus, in 1990, working alongside our former Warsaw Pact adversaries, we signed the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, to reflect the new scenario. In Kosovo, 1999, we also acknowledged that while the threat of Communism no longer crawled menacing on our back lawns, the World was still in dire need of Nato, and we launched a new kind of war to stop the atrocities of Milosevic. And, finally, in 2001, we came to realise that our friends were not at all safe; the horrid experience of that now distant September morning caused Nato to step up once again in defence of its brothers and against its enemies. Enemies no longer carrying political banners and conventional tactics, but hiding cowardly behind children and religion.

Yet while this journey of self discovery has shown us this much, perhaps it is time to reckon a few missteps. After the signing of the Two Plus Four Treaty, and the installation of one single Federal Republic of Germany to the Nato Council, we seemed to have convinced ourselves it was Nato’s main goal to expand, and while we gained many friends and allies in the process, members as important and as dear as our Baltic and Carpathian brothers, members so crucial as our long-time Polish friends, and members so strategic as our Czech, Hungarian, Slovakian and Slovenian allies, we thought we could continue on this track unchecked.

Nowadays some see Nato enlargement as a necessity of Trans-Atlantic Policy. As if going east were to be our only choice. The Federal Republic of Germany disagrees. Enlargement cannot be a thoughtless policy driven by an uncontrollable angst to expand and overnight Cold War melancholy. It is to be a well-thought, properly analysed, consensual decision, based not in will, but in need.

Germany trusts this Committee to realise the needs of our Alliance, now at the verge of this first decade of the new Millennium. The menace of International Terrorism haunts the peace and security we have worked so hard to achieve and an Economic Crisis threatens the very fabric that supports our prosperity. This is no time for rush decisions, and Nato enlargement, especially into such far sites as Ukraine, is such a decision.

While we do not deny the possibility that certain North Atlantic nations could be ready for MAP Status, this is by far not the case in Ukraine. This is a divided country and to this date at least an unstable democracy at best. Nato is no democracy club. It is a military alliance, and past experience has shown Ukraine’s unfitness on this regard. Bearing this reality in mind, instead of Kiev, we should gaze upon Kabul. We need efficiency in our military efforts if we are to succeed in the challenges posed by this New Millennium World, and efficiency is not made by sheer troop numbers, but by a sober command and wise planning.

The enemy we face no longer marches through red streets in Moscow, nor does it kill openly on the Srebeniça rubble. It hides cleverly in the caves of eastern Afghanistan and Pakinstan’s Tribal Belt. If Nato is to truly survive the downfall of its rivals, it must keep up the pace in dealing with them as they surge, and if that means the prioritisation of its goals and the erasing of others, so be it. Germany opposes Nato enlargement for the time being, and considers any attempt to pursue such agenda as misguided and erroneous given Nato’s current geopolitical situation.