CIS AFFAIRS CONFERENCE OF THE ARMED FORCES’ CHIEFS OF STAFF SHATTERS.

The NATO headquarters in Brussels is hosting today and tomorrow a meeting of the NATO-Russia Permanent Committee at the chiefs-of-staff level. In preparation for the meeting, the Russian side wanted “to present to the NATO command a unified position of the CIS Collective Security Treaty’s member countries on European security issues”–particularly with regard to NATO’s enlargement, the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) and Kosovo (Itar-Tass, March 3). In an attempt to elicit such a common position, Russia called a meeting on March 4 in Moscow of the chiefs of staff of the CIS countries’ armed forces.

Only three chiefs of staff–those of Belarus, Armenia and Kazakhstan–showed up. Kyrgyzstan sent a deputy chief of staff. Georgia, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan delegated observers who did not participate in the discussions. Ukraine, Moldova, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan simply ignored the meeting altogether (Nezavisimaya gazeta, March 5). The refusal of most CIS countries to allow Moscow to speak for them on security issues is well established. The only surprise is that Moscow should still attempt to present itself to the West as the leader of an alliance and to front for internationally recognized independent countries.

GOD BLESS INTEGRATION?