NewsLab

Franco -German Alliance’s slap left President George Bush speechless and isolated in Bucharest. Not only did George Bush not manage to convince Nato leaders about the expansion to the East, but he didn’t even touch any of their sensitive strings, when he invoked it was his last Nato summit. His plans were scattered by the angry reaction of Angela Merkel, even if German Chancellor later tried to downgrade the proportion of the confrontation.Bucharest diplomatic battle found George Bush in the loser’s camp, even if a compromising formula was found, which sweetened the pill for Washington. With the promise to include one day Ukraine and Georgia in the North Atlantic Alliance, NATO leaders agreed that the two states remain for the time being in the NATO lobby . This after Mr Bush had suffered another setback as NATO leaders decided not to open the door to the Alliance to FYROM. After intense efforts, Greece achieved what many see as a major diplomatic success at the NATO summit in Bucharest. The 26-member Alliance backed Athens‘ position that Skopje cannot be invited to join NATO until the name dispute is first resolved. Finally, in the family photograph, there were only two places, for Albania and Croatia. Out of the five states, (Albania, Croatia, Skopje, Ukraine, Georgia) only the first two received the much desired entry invitation in the military bloc. In the meanwhile, Vladimir Putin rose as the star of the summit and Russia is not even a NATO member. Even before his ariival, Russian President Vladimir Putin had won a big diplomatic battle. Referring to Georgia’s and Ukraine’s bids to join the military bloc, he warned that any NATO’s expansion eastwards would be seen as a direct threat. Although he fell short of Nato ambitions, he described as positive his talks with NATO leaders. “Let’s be friends, guys, and be frank and open,” he told a news conference, declaring that another Cold War was impossible.