EDITORIAL • October 19, 2001.
The Washington Times
As the White House is actively engaged countering a shadowy but deadly
threat around the world, a significant remnant of the Cold War has finally been
relegated to history. Russian President Vladimir Putin surprised much of the
world on yesterday, when he announced the Kremlin was closing its Lourdes spy
facility in Cuba.
Moscow's reaffirmation of this cooperative relationship is a
foreign-policy coup for President Bush, who has forged a strategic relationship
with Russia. "It's a clear indication of the strategic realignment with the
West that Putin is trying to effect," said Ariel Cohen, a research fellow
at the Heritage Foundation. Moscow is seeking to strengthen its security
cooperation with the United States, and "having Russia in the tent and
cooperating, rather than spoiling outside," is in the U.S. interest, he
added. All the same, the United States' opposition to Russia's slaughter of
Chechens and overzealous crackdown on the freedom of the press must continue to
be a part of Washington's dialogue with the Kremlin.
The spy base, which was built by the Soviet Union and employs 1,500
people, had long been a source of contention aggravating U.S.-Russian relations.
Through electronic surveillance out of Lourdes, the Russians may have even
learned of U.S. battle plans for the Gulf War before they were executed,
according to press reports, but the Kremlin apparently didn't pass this
information on to Baghdad.
As Mr. Putin signaled his decision to close shop in Lourdes, he said
he would redirect the $200 million it cost a year to operate the base to bolster
terrorist surveillance capabilities along Russia's southern border. Gen. Anatoly
Kvashnin, chief of the Russian armed forces general staff, said the $200 million
saved from the Lourdes withdrawal could be used to purchase about 100 of the
most up-to-date radars.
Conversely, the base had long been a source of pride for Cuban dictator
Fidel Castro. After the demise of the Soviet Union, and therefore the flow of
Soviet aid to Cuba, Russia's maintenance of the facility allowed Mr. Castro to
continue touting his utility and ties to a geo-political power. Russia's exit
plans are therefore "a tremendous blow to the Cubans," said Jose
Cardenas, Washington director of the Cuban American National Foundation. The
base "was really the last manifestation of the close Cuban-Soviet
relationship during the Cold War," he added. Indeed, Mr. Castro stands
today as an isolated relic of a past era, imposing an anachronistic,
delegitimized and brutal dictatorship on a captive island.
America's strengthened strategic friendships are today a pivotal
element of the president's terrorist-busting strategy. Although the challenges
Washington is today confronting are indeed daunting, the defrosting of such Cold
War hostilities is a welcomed change.
© 2001 News World Communications, Inc. |
