Poland?s President Aleksander Kwasniewski came to Washington on January 27. He was the first foreign leader visiting the White House in 2004, and President Bush welcomed him as an old friend. His said his guest was ?making a mark on the continent of Europe through his leadership.?
But the Polish president did not come to Washington for mere assurances of friendship. High on his agenda was a substantial increase in U.S. military help, Iraq reconstruction contracts and visa-free travel to America for Polish citizens. What he achieved was less than Poles expected. The Americans promised $66 million of direct military aid instead of the hoped-for $300 million. They also made clear that insistence on visa-free travel is unrealistic, although visa processing could be made easier and more equitable.
This is not enough, concluded the Polish media, pointing out that its country has 2,500 soldiers in Iraq, commands a multinational division there, and its pro-American position caused it problems within the European Union. Similar voices of discontent can be heard from other Eastern European countries.
But some Washington analysts see those complaints as unfounded and inappropriate. Professor Daniel Hamilton, director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University, says the strategic alliance with the United States should not be linked with matters like visas and preferential trade relations. ?That sounds somewhat petty, frankly,? he says. ?One would argue that the United States has done quite a bit for these countries over the last 50 years. It has led the charge on enlargement after the Cold War. The United States Senate has made the most solemn commitment that any country can make to another, and that is to pledge to come to its defense in a case of attack. There is not much more you can ask for in terms of reciprocity and quid pro quo.?
Bruce Jackson, president of the Project on Transitional Democracies, adds that certainly the Polish government did not support America on Iraq with short-term benefits in mind. ?Poland did not do things for this administration,? he says. ?Poland did things because it believed it shared the values of the United States. The sense that favors were given in some back channel way to curry the favor of this administration or to neglect the Europeans, I just don?t think is the correct way of looking at things.?
Polish National Security Advisor Marek Siwiec, who was in Washington before President Kwasniewski?s visit, says this is exactly the Polish government?s position. But he adds that words of praise and gratitude for Poland and the ?New Europe? from U.S. leaders raised high expectations in the region. Now, says Mr. Siwiec, many people wonder if these words carry any meaning. In his view the Americans should try to ?create substance? and a new set of priorities in their dealings with the ?New Europe,? which he sees as a test of the American perception of European-American relations in the future.
Some analysts suggest that East and Central Europeans may have a point in demanding more attention from Washington, because American actions after 9-11 radically changed the nature of their alliance. Not only Poles but also Bulgarians, Hungarians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Romanians, Slovaks and others serve in Iraq, and that ties up their military resources and strains their budgets.
Anatol Lieven, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, thinks the Americans make a mistake taking East Europeans for granted and believing their gratitude for winning the Cold War and for NATO expansion can assure their continued support. ?I think what Washington tends to forget is that when NATO was actually being expanded, membership in NATO looked largely cost free,? he says. ?With the Iraq war, with NATO?s key role in Afghanistan, with the possibility of more wars in the future in the Middle East, perhaps involving NATO -- NATO membership doesn?t look cost free any more, and therefore is not something that a lot of Central Europeans feel very grateful for.?
Professor John Micgiel, director of the East Central European Center at Columbia University in New York, says the nations of Eastern Europe are growing more concerned about the costs of supporting the United States and may start reassessing their policies. ?I wouldn?t be a bit surprised,? he says, ?if, when budget time comes around in Warsaw, in Budapest, in Bucharest, in Prague, these governments once again begin to think about how much their military budget is being put out of whack by their friendship with the United States.?
In Professor Micgiel?s view, this is exactly the case the leaders of those countries should be making in Washington.