The Political Inquirer

Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary joined NATO on March 12th, 1999.

“But I also made it clear to (Vladimir Putin) that it’s important to think beyond the old days of when we had the concept that if we blew each other up, the world would be safe.” George W. Bush, May 1, 2001

“I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy….I was able to get a sense of his soul.” George W. Bush, after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin, June 16, 2001

“You saw the president yesterday. I thought he was very forward-leaning, as they say in diplomatic nuanced circles. ” George W. Bush, July 23rd, 2001

“I consider Vladimir Putin one of my good friends. Like other good friends I’ve had throughout my life, we don’t agree 100 percent of the time. But we always agree to discuss things in a frank and — in a frank way.” “I have just come from NATO. My visit with Vladimir was my first stop after Prague. The mood of the NATO countries is this: Russia is our friend; we’ve got a lot of interests together; we must continue our cooperation in the war on terror; and the expansion of NATO should be welcomed by the Russian people. After all, there are new nations on our border that are members of — nations that are new members of NATO, but nations pledged to peace, and pledged to freedom.” George W. Bush, November 22nd, 2002 in St. Petersburg, Russia

“I think that this experience [disagreements over invasion of Iraq] will make our relationship stronger, not weaker. As we go forward, we will show the world that friends can disagree, move beyond disagreement and work in a very constructive and important way to maintain the peace.” George W. Bush, June 1st, 2003 in St. Petersburg, Russia

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania joined NATO on March 29th, 2004 after beginning the membership process as far back as 2002.

“I appreciate that. The G8 will raise the issue. [increasing crackdown on civil society and political parties in Russia] That’s the interesting thing about kind of meetings and moments. And I have worked very hard to convince Vladimir Putin that it’s in his interest to adopt Western-style values and universal values — rule of law, freedom of religion, the right to people to assemble, political parties, free press.” George W. Bush, March 29th, 2006 Freedom House conference Washington D.C.

BUSH: “I talked about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world, like Iraq, where there’s a free press and free religion. And I told him that a lot of people in our country would hope that Russia will do the same thing. I fully understand, however, that there will be a Russian-style democracy.”
PUTIN: “We certainly would not want to have same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, quite honestly.”
BUSH: “Just wait.” Joint press conference, July 15th, 2006 in St. Petersburg, Russia

“I presume they [Time Magazine Person of the Year] put him on there because he was a consequential leader. And the fundamental question is: Consequential to what end? You know, what will the country look like 10 years from now?” George W. Bush, December 20th, 2007

“”It’s in our interests, the U.S. interests, to have good solid relations with Russia and that’s what Vladimir and I have worked hard to achieve.” George W. Bush, July 2nd, 2007 in Maine

Albania and Croatia started membership talks on April 2008. Macedonia, Georgia and Ukraine are considered the next likely candidates with Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Serbia as possibilities.

“No one has got rid of the Washington Agreement. We have liquidated our bases in Cameroon, Vietnam and Cuba. We have moved our troops out of Eastern Europe and got rid of heavy arms in Europe, in general. What did we get in return? A base in Romania where we are now, a base in Bulgaria and AMD (anti-missile defence) bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.” Vladimir Putin, April 5, 2008 end of NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania

“Russia does not aspire to be a NATO member – thank God. In terms of providing for our safety, we are a self-sufficient country. And we don’t intend to sacrifice part of our sovereignty to create the illusion of increasing our security”. Vladimir Putin, April 5, 2008 end of NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania

“Russia has often been criticised for not being co-operative. But why should we be co-operative if national security is threatened? We did not quit the treaty on anti-missile defence. After this the old system of international relations was abandoned.” Vladimir Putin, April 5, 2008 end of NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania

Sincerely,

Bitter Hinterlands

[Title is vodka, oil or missile in Russian]