NATO's formidable task

The puzzling signals from German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's recent visit to Moscow are a reminder of the formidable task faced by would-be constructors of a new European security order.

By the time Western leaders of NATO gather in Madrid in July, they will need to have answered difficult, inter-related questions about the future of European defense -- or face a breakdown of their self-imposed timetable.

Russia has sought to dampen the optimism expressed by Mr. Kohl by staking out a maximalist position. It wants a legally binding treaty to govern relations with NATO, and the clearest possible assurances that no NATO infrastructure will be extended eastwards.

But NATO must avoid giving Russia any power to interfere with core alliance business.

The mixture of courtesy and firmness which NATO showed when involving Russia in its Bosnian operation might, perhaps, be extended to the larger game of European security as a whole.

-- Financial Times, London