Moment of truth

Defense and security issues are among the few in the system of international relations that hold out the promise of learning the truth about the parties' real goals and intentions. It is extremely difficult to attain this moment of truth, because real interests are the most tightly guarded secret in politics. You can speculate or guess, but only very rarely can you find out the facts.

For example, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has calculated that the U.S. defense budget reached an astronomical $528 billion in the past few years. Washington and its NATO allies, which account for 66% of the world's defense spending (Russia's share is 3%), do not believe this amounts to a resumption of the arms race.

One can talk about the "militarization of the U.S. administration's mentality," but Washington will never admit that NATO's eastward expansion threatens Russia's security and is disrupting the alignment of forces in Europe. This is part of American pragmatism, which ignores the national interests of other countries as insubstantial and unimportant.

Russian officials have more than once reminded the United States and NATO about their commitment not to expand the bloc, but to no avail. Therefore, when President Vladimir Putin said he considered the CFE treaty obsolete and favored a moratorium on it, a true strategic partner would have accepted his words as a logical reaction to its actions, but not Washington.

The United States believes Moscow must withdraw its troops from the self-proclaimed republics of Abkhazia and Transdniestria before the West ratifies the CFE treaty.

On June 6, The Financial Times published a letter from Robert Skidelsky of Britain's House of Lords, who writes: "What may have started out as President Reagan's bluff to force the Soviet Union into arms control agreements has evolved into the doctrine of American military unilateralism. If this is the game, the Russian response is understandable. Russia is playing the only card it has."

Therefore, Putin's proposal that Russia and America use the Gabala radar station in Azerbaijan as an alternative to the U.S. plans to base the American anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic could be a solution for those who are against starting a new cold war.

It could be also a chance for Europeans to check on the purity of Washington's intentions. Does it really intend to protect Europe from Iranian or North Korean missiles, or does it simply want to strengthen its presence in Europe?

This text has been excerpted from a column written by Andrei Vasilyev for the RIA Novosti news agency. The author is a military commentator based in Moscow.