Airstrip One

The Balkanisation of NATO - 8th December 2002, 21.33

One of the criticisms of an anticipated European superstate is that it will founder under the centrifugal forces of nationalism. Yet it is rare to hear the same argument used to criticise the expansion of NATO. Constantine Peshakov, a Russian commentator, writes

The new NATO may find itself disabled by its own gluttony. If history has taught us a lesson about alliances, it is that they should be homogenous. Disparities in an alliance are permissible only to a certain limit.

The author points out that the new members have only recently emerged from communism and that there are still territorial disputes unresolved in this "territorial and ethnic mess".

In the next 10 years we may see the Balkanization of NATO, an efficient alliance turning into something chaotic, confused and basically useless, like the United Nations.