This strategy has its challenges. Western Europe also relies on Russian gas, and without either Eastern Europe’s collective memory of Soviet occupation, or its geographic proximity to Russia, they aren’t overly sympathetic to Eastern European concerns about Russian bullying. It doesn’t help that Western European politicans have a habit of taking lucrative jobs with Russian gas companies once they leave office. The idea that Eastern Europe might more effectively attract American support in co-operation with the rest of the continent is also weakened by the fact that Western Europe doesn’t have a lot of pull with Washington these days, either. “The extra weight that [Eastern Europe] needs to get American attention depends in part on Western Europe, and Western Europe is not asserting itself and is not showing that it is part of the solution to very many problems,” says Stephen Sestanovitch, a former U.S ambassador at large during the Bill Clinton administration, who is now at the Council on Foreign Relations. “When American policy makers look at Europe, what they tend to see are fat, comfortable countries that aren’t making much of an effort to work with the United States on big problems.”
This is one of the reasons why Eastern European Atlanticists feel so jilted. They did try to help America with its big problems. They sent soldiers to Afghanistan and to Iraq when the United States was desperate for international support. “I think they justifiably feel as if they have to some extent been used,” says Charles Kupchan, a professor of international affairs at Georgetown University.
Poland, for example, took on a sizable burden in Iraq and wanted to believe it was also carving out a special relationship with the United States. “Now that it is finding out that it is being treated like an Italy or a Spain, Poles are saying, ‘Wait a minute. We stood by the United States when the chips were down. What has it gotten us?’ ” says Kupchan. It didn’t get them much. Polish citizens still need a visa to travel to the United States.
In cold, geostrategic terms, it may be that the United States can afford to let its ties with Eastern Europe fray. Compared with, say, Pakistan, the region is stable and repercussions of a decline in American influence are minor. Put simply, Washington has limited resources and bigger problems. And the countries of Eastern Europe, for their part, arguably need to forge closer ties with the rest of Europe. Geography is still hugely important in global politics, and you can’t pick your neighbours.
Still, for Eastern Europeans who looked to America for help during the Cold War, and whose countries benefited from American support while transitioning to democracy in the post-Soviet era, the cooling trend stings. For the United States, it may also be risky. History has a way of taking unexpected turns. And while good allies are difficult to keep, they are harder, and more costly, to get back.
