Where Europe draws the line

Quote: Mikheil Saakashvili kicked off the second wave of freedom movements in formerly Communist Europe in 2003 when he strode into the Georgian Parliament, rose in hand. Now he`s president, and his country and his revolution are in danger of being stranded between a weakening West and a surging Russia. Last week he came to Washington in the somewhat desperate hope that President Bush would spend some of his last diplomatic capital to defend the two European democracies born on his watch.
Georgia`s was the first of the "color revolutions"; the second was in Ukraine, which in 2004 shook off an attempt by Vladimir Putin to install a satellite autocracy. Now, like the first wave of post-Communist democracies in Central Europe, Georgia and Ukraine are trying to consolidate their liberal regimes, and their independence, by joining NATO. Both have formally asked NATO to choose them for a "membership action plan" at a summit two weeks from now in Bucharest. That would inaugurate a process of monitored reforms that could lead to full membership in a few years.
It`s a logical step that already has allowed 10 European countries, from Poland to Romania, to adopt the institutions and receive the protection of the democratic West -- arguably the greatest achievement in NATO`s history. But the alliance and its leaders are weaker than they were a decade ago -- and more susceptible to intimidation by Putin. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in Soviet-dominated East Germany, has taken a public stand against membership plans for Georgia and Ukraine. The French government of Nicolas Sarkozy is also resistant. Even the U.S. bureaucracy has been lukewarm; support for Georgia and Ukraine has ranked below missile defense and Kosovo`s independence in Washington`s dealings with both Europe and Russia.

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