Re: NATO: One year later, Volume 11, Number 13, April 4 - April 10, 2005
The article "NATO: One year later," is an important, balanced article concerning Slovakia's membership in NATO.
As Chairperson of the Anti-Communist International (ACI) and a former editor of East Europe magazine, which supported the freedom and independence of Slovakia when it was anything but a popular cause in the United States, I would like to add that through Slovakia's membership in NATO Slovakia is a formal ally of the United States of America.
Therefore the country does not really any longer have to fear any kind of imperialistic threats to its freedom, independence and territorial integrity. Slovakia is one of the nations in Europe that is smaller than any of its neighbours, so it should be comforting for Slovakia to know that, in addition to its membership in the European Union, it has an ally in the "western bookend" of NATO, the United States of America.
When Ukraine later becomes a member of the European Union and of NATO, Slovakia can also feel more secure in the East. In addition, ACI supports membership in NATO of the Russian Federation, which, as a global power like the United States, would serve as an "eastern bookend" of the NATO Alliance.
Slovaks have always had a good brotherly Slavic relationship with the Russian people, so they are not as afraid of "the giant to the East" as many other Europeans.
It was not easy defending Slovakia from the false charges of pro-Nazism and anti-Semitism that were levelled against it during the Cold War by circles opposed to Slovak freedom and independence. That Slovakia is fully in the democratic column in the European Union and NATO is a joy.
Jon Speller,
USA
