Courting friends and allies

Vice President Cheney was in Vilnius today and addressed the Vilnius Conference 2006. Part of the goal of the conference was to discuss the relationship between Eastern Europe, and Russia and the rest of Europe. For instance, the fact the Russian-German pipeline bypasses Eastern Europe causes concern that Russia may try to increase its leverage over the Eastern European nations. In diplospeak,

The enlarged EU and NATO -- the third element of the current European architecture -- took a proactive stance by offering various partnership instruments to their eastern neighbors. Nonetheless, it seems that developing an outreaching ‘eastern’ policy remains our common challenge. It is already obvious that democracies emerging in a vast region from Eastern Europe to South Caucasus need much more than one-size-fits-all European Neighborhood Policy. The EU and NATO approach towards this region has to facilitate and, eventually, consolidate its democratic transformation. On the other hand, while paving the ways for new forms of interaction, the EU and NATO cannot ignore their internal dynamics and must respond to their domestic needs.

This new post-enlargement situation in Europe has raised a number of questions which need to be answered if concerted action outside Europe’s current borders is a real target. To have these answers Europe needs today an in-depth discussion about the principles of European coexistence. Therefore, Lithuania and Poland willco-host a conference in Vilnius on May 4-5, 2006, which will bring together Heads of State from around 15 countries, as well as the EU and NATO leadership.

Cheney went there to express solidarity with our friends in Eastern Europe. Cheney was somewhat blunt in his message to Russia.

During his speech Vice President Cheney said Russia was backsliding on democracy and urged it to stop using energy supplies for "blackmail."

(The entire text of his speech can be found here.)

From there, Cheney is off to Kazakhstan. Here, too, there are strategic goals. The US will continue to seek ways to counter the growing influence of alliances such as the SCO, which I wrote about here.

The PINR puts it this way:

Cheney's visit is additionally significant because he will also be traveling to Kazakhstan; he will then move to meet the leaders of Adriatic countries Croatia, Albania and Macedonia. In fact, the three stops of his journey are part of a single geostrategic plan.

The U.S. is working to accelerate Eastern Europe's integration into the E.U. as a tool to enhance Euro-Atlantic political and financial integration. Washington is also courting Astana, pushing for an enhanced cooperation between Kazakhstan and N.A.T.O.

These U.S. initiatives will increase Russian-American geopolitical rivalry. In Central Asia, U.S. moves in Kazakhstan aim at containing the influence of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (S.C.O.) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (C.S.T.O.), thus countering the growing Russian-Chinese regional cooperation. In Eastern Europe, Washington's interests are both geostrategic and political since the U.S. needs a strong and extended Euro-Atlantic alliance to keep its status of the world's main power.