News in Europe - Russia Co-operates with NATO

Recently, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, met in order to discuss the rising issue of possible ballistic missile attacks. The members of the organization have agreed on a treaty that would set up a defense system across Europe and North America, where most of the members are located. This treaty would help relations between major nations while protecting themselves from possible dangerous missile attacks from unstable countries. Russia, being the largest country in Europe, is critical to the success of the defense plan, and because its relations with the United States is not very strong, it was very possible the Russia would prove to be a difficult problem for the treaty. To the relief of the members of NATO, Russia, on November 20th, has agreed to “co-operate on NATO’s programme to defend against ballistic missile attacks.”

This agreement could possibly ease relations with Russia, a very advanced country militarily, and according to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, “A period of very difficult, tense relations has been overcome.” Russia controls much of the land and airspace in Europe and with its co-operation it would be able to detect and shoot down incoming missiles that wouldn’t have been able to be shot down had Russia not complied. Not only has Russia agreed to help with the missile defense system, but also to “allow more supplies to travel through Russia… to support NATO’s mission in Afghanistan,” displaying an even more possible future with Russia as an ally rather than as a hostile nation.

While the treaty has been agreed upon among NATO members, it still is faced with the challenge of passing the United States Senate, or else the United States would not take part. A passage of the treaty would call for the United States and Russia to both reduce their nuclear arsenals and allow the countries to inspect each other’s nuclear facilities. I would think that this could prove difficult for the Senate to pass because of the fact that current relations with Russia aren’t very good. According to Medvedev, “Our (Russia’s) participation has to be a full-fledged exchange of information, or we won’t take part at all,” which could end up supplying Russia with valuable information. That aside, I think that this treaty looks like it could be successful if managed appropriately and could also greatly improve relations with not only Russia, but also other important European nations.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11803931