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Victory in Europe — past, present, future


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By John Metzler
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM

Friday, May 13, 2005

UNITED NATIONS — Symbolism, imagery, and style were the hallmarks of President Bush’s European visit celebrating the 60th anniversary of the WWII victory over Nazi Germany. The whirlwind Presidential tour, started in the discreet Baltic city of Riga, Latvia and ended in the near rock concert conclusion in Tbilisi, Georgia. Moscow was in the middle in more ways than one.

The trip stressed the enduring and significant American ties to Europe in past, present and future. The President reaffirmed America’s enduring commitment to freedom and independence by stopping first in the once forgotten and forsaken Baltic State of Latvia. The Baltic nations-Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — submerged in the geographical black hole of the Soviet Union, but now proudly free and shining members of the European Union and NATO, conclusively prove that political miracles do happen.

Latvia’s articulate President Vaira Vike-Freiberga stressed that the Baltics were first victims of the 1939 Nazi/Soviet Pact, then Yalta in 1945. Thus on the one hand, President Bush was correct to say that the Yalta Agreement between the Franklin D. Roosevelt and Soviet dictator Josef Stalin tragically surrendered the Baltic peoples to a frightful fate under Soviet rule. One the other, Bush was equally wise to tell the Baltic leaders that living in and lamenting over historical wrongs of 60 years ago, is not the best way to go forward — especially with neighboring Russia.

So in a sense the Baltic stopover, was addressing the past but at the same time, attempting to go beyond it.

The second stop in Holland to honor American war dead, represented a seminal moment. The President along with the Queen of the Netherlands attended the somber ceremony for those who fell for freedom in the last months of the war. Holland has been a steadfast American ally and friend. One recalls FDR’s paeans to the indomitable Dutch.

On to Moscow for meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and attendance at a decidedly retro-Russian Victory Day parade in Red Square marking the defeat of Hitler.

Bush’s talks with Putin — despite the obvious political turbulence between both countries — proved poignant. For Russia — who lost 27 million people in WWII — the near-mythical meaning of Victory Day is lost on most Americans. At the same time, Bush had to balance American respect for Russia’s wartime sacrifice with the bleak historic reality of the ensuing Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe in the post-war era.

Bottom line — American/Russian relations are immeasurably better than they were even during the late Cold War. And despite President Putin’s lingering political nostalgia for the old Soviet power and iconography, that system is kaput, and very happily so.

The Presidential visit to Georgia — another former Soviet satrap, and birthplace of Stalin was the most politically charged. Russian raw nerves were undeniably irked and insulted by this American probe on their geographical underbelly. Though Georgia’s peaceful Rose Revolution overthrew the former post-Soviet regime, realistically true democracy has yet to take root. That’s why the American Presidential team brought ample doses of rhetorical Miracle Grow to help speed along the process.

Speaking in Tbilisi’s historic Freedom Square to one of the largest crowds in Georgia’s history (200,000+people) W and American-educated Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili were feted like rock stars. Bush intoned, “You gathered here armed with nothing but roses and the power of your convictions, and you claimed your liberty…and because you acted, Georgia is today both sovereign and free and a beacon of liberty for this region and the world.”

This stunning spectacle of a cheering youthful sea of humanity bordered by the bunting of the Stars and Stripes and Georgia’s impressive heraldic Cross of St. George flags, were the perfect finale for what looked like the Bush victory lap, but did not merit a centered page one picture in the New York Times.

But the Georgia stopover was not just about backdrops, but forward to the future. Bush is betting that his political anthem “Freedom is on the March” will ring especially true in formerly totalitarian places like Georgia, Ukraine, and hopefully in Russia too.

John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com.




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