Bush celebrates NATO's eastward expansion

President highlights differences with Moscow before final talks with Putin



President Bush celebrated NATO's expansion
into former communist territory on Saturday and urged further
enlargement, highlighting differences with Moscow hours before final
talks with outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Bush
congratulated Croatia and Albania — both formerly communist-run — for
the invitations to join NATO they won a day earlier at the military
alliance's summit in Bucharest, Romania. He urged a similar welcome for
Macedonia, which snagged on Greek objections. The president was
reinforcing that message immediately after his speech in a public
square here by honoring the newest members of NATO's club over lunch.

Bush
called the invitation to join NATO "a vote of confidence that you will
continue to make necessary reforms and become strong contributors to
our great alliance."


'Freedom'

"Henceforth,
should any danger threaten your people, America and the NATO alliance
will stand with you and no one will be able to take your freedom away,"
he said to cheers from an audience of thousands packed into St. Mark's
Square, used as the site of the inauguration of every Croatian leader
for the past 700 years and considered "the center of Croatian
politics."

Such praise for the spread of democracy on Russia's
doorstep — and for the promise of Western military protection for that
freedom — was not likely to be cheered in Moscow, however. Bush's focus
on freedom comes as his administration continues to harshly criticize
increasing Kremlin authoritarianism.

So, even as Bush has sought in recent days to
downplay tensions between the United States and Russia, he used his
overnight stay in Croatia, as well as one in the former Soviet republic
of Ukraine earlier in his weeklong trip, to showcase some of the
differences that have caused those tensions.



Resort meeting

By
evening Saturday, Bush was to be at Putin's summer home at the Black
Sea resort of Sochi. The two are to cap an often contentious seven-year
relationship that will come to end when Putin leaves office next month.
They hope to produce a new "strategic framework" to guide relations to
a less rocky future beyond their time in office.

Over dinner
and again in talks Sunday, Bush and Putin are expected to make nice and
emphasize the positive, such as the strategic framework and Russia's
agreement this week to allow shipment of nonmilitary NATO supplies to
Afghanistan through its territory.

But the U.S. plan to deploy
a missile shield in Europe is a major source of friction between the
two countries. Though the concept is vehemently opposed by Russia, it
won NATO leaders' full support this week.



Short-lived victory for Putin?

And
the U.S. desire to see NATO open the admission process for Ukraine and
Georgia also roils Russian officials. The ex-Soviet republics'
aspirations to become part of the alliance were snubbed at this week's
NATO summit, a victory for Putin. But Bush and his aides have been
quick to point out that alliance leaders vowed to eventually open the
path to joining, possibly as early as December. Putin's victory, they
say, may be short-lived.

Bush did not directly tweak Russia in his speech, but included themes that could rankle.
Bush
pointed out the success of U.S.-supported democratization in the
volatile Balkans, where the effects of the disintegration of the former
Yugoslavia still roil relations between Washington and Moscow. Most
recently, the United States and many of its European allies rallied
around independence for the Serbian province of Kosovo. Russia,
supporting Serbia, strongly opposed that, too.

Bush also discussed the importance of security
and stability in the Balkans, noting that at their summit in Romania,
the NATO leaders offered "intensified dialogue" to Bosnia and
Montenegro, two other states once part of Yugoslavia.

"The
NATO alliance is open to all countries in the region," he said. "We
hope that, soon, a free and prosperous Serbia will find its rightful
place in the family of Europe and live at peace with its neighbors.
With the changes under way in this region, Europe stands on the
threshold of a new and hopeful history.

'One free people'

Croatia's
former nationalism once made Washington wary, and the country drew Bush
administration ire by opposing the U.S.-led war in Iraq and refusing to
allow U.S. soldiers exemption from war-crimes prosecution. But
Croatia's emergence as a stable nation in the turbulent region, the
pro-Western government it elected in 2000 and its contribution to the
fight in Afghanistan more recently has earned it U.S. support.

"We stand together as one free people," Bush said.

There
was little chance of an unfriendly crowd for Bush, as invitations to
his speech were given to the Croatian government to distribute. Indeed,
he was welcomed warmly, with people spilling into side streets to hear
him and applauding frequently. A long-stem rose was thrown on stage as
he arrived, and people hugged and kissed him as he left.

"It's
a great honor for our homeland," said Nikola Petir, a 66-year-old
technician who came with his 18-year-old son, Marko. "We are a small
nation — I think we'll have more support from the world after his
visit."

But hundreds of anti-war demonstrators protested
Friday night upon Bush's arrival. And on Saturday, dozens gathered
peacefully at Flowers' Square in downtown Zagreb. They had been invited
to sign a giant postcard for Bush, "as a message from the people who
would not have been among the chosen ones at the St. Mark's Square,"
said Tomislav Bosanac, one of the organizers.

Bush also met
Saturday with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, signing a guest book
to signify improved U.S.-Croatian relations.