NP - Obama Just Made the Ultimate Commitment to Eastern Europe

[David Morris]

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/09/obama-commitment-eastern-europe-russia-nato/379581/

That all sent a message, but only indirectly. The direct message came on
Wednesday, in Tallinn, Estonia, in the sharpest language any U.S. president
has used toward Russia since Ronald Reagan upbraided the Evil Empire. One
by one, President Obama repudiated the lies Vladimir Putin has told about
Ukraine: that the Ukrainians somehow provoked the invasion, that they are
Nazis, that their freely elected government is somehow illegal. He rejected
Russia’s claim that it has some sphere of influence in Ukraine, some right
of veto over Ukrainian constitutional arrangements. And he forcefully
assured Estonians—and all NATO’s new allies—that waging war on them meant
waging war on the United States. “[T]he defense of Tallinn and Riga and
Vilnius is just as important as the defense of Berlin and Paris and
London," Obama said. "Article 5 is crystal clear. An attack on one is an
attack on all. So if, in such a moment, you ever ask again, who'll come to
help, you'll know the answer: the NATO alliance, including the armed forces
of the United States of America, right here, present, now."

This is the ultimate commitment, given by the ultimate authority, in the
very place where the commitment would be tested—and would have to be
honored. There’s no turning back from that. Today, for the first time
perhaps, Eastern Europeans have reason to believe it. And Vladimir Putin?
His depredations have brought about the very result he claimed most to
fear: a reanimated NATO rededicated to the defense of all its members, new
and old, West and East, backed by the ultimate commitment of the United
States.

In Tallinn, President Obama gave the most important speech about European
security—and issued the most important pledge—of the post-Cold War era.
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