New York Times Associated Press In short:
The US has been planning to expand its missile defense network in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia is not happy about this. Also, some NATO members are a little miffed that the plans were made without proper consultation with them.
(Talks within NATO have been ongoing since 2004, according to the AP. The Bush administration basically got tired of things being bogged down in talks and decided to forge on ahead by themselves. Make of that what you will. I'll leave my own political views out of this, as much as I can.)
So, in what they admit is a somewhat belated move, the Bush administration offered to open it up to Russia as a joint project. A shared/cooperative defense against common threats.
The Russians have said that they're not interested, but have agreed to give the offer due consideration in upcoming/continuing talks with the US in specific and NATO in general.
Like I said, I'm trying to leave politics out of this as much as possible. I want to focus on the key fact here.
Representatives from the US and NATO will be meeting with high-level Russian officials to discuss the creation of a cooperative missile defense system in eastern Europe.Just stop for a moment and think about that.
The kid in me, who still remembers growing up in the final years of the cold war, is shocked, awed, and tentatively hopeful. The mere fact of the offer, absolutely unthinkable 20 years ago, is positively historic.
I wonder where it'll go from here.
