Seattle Conference on NATO Enlargement in the Baltic States

Thursday, November 29, and Friday, November 30, 2001 Henry Art Gallery Auditorium, University of Washington, Seattle

The UW community and the general public are invited to attend as distinguished speakers debate an issue to be decided by NATO at its
meeting in Prague a year from now: whether to invite additional East European states to join the alliance. The most controversial question is
whether to invite one or more applications from the three Baltic states.

Diplomats from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will argue that their countries have met and exceeded the three basic criteria for admission to
NATO: establishing democratic political systems that protect the human rights of all citizens, including religious and ethnic minorities;
assuring civilian political control over national militaries; and building market economies.

But other experts will question whether Baltic membership in NATO could jeopardize vitally important US and NATO arms control agreements with
Russia. They will also question the wisdom of making additional US security guarantees to European allies who collectively possess sufficient
resources to manage their own security affairs, including their relationships with a post-communist Russia.

The conference will also consider how the Scandinavian states manage their relationships with Russia and other states of the Baltic region within a
European system that may become distinct from the Atlantic framework. We may also hear of possible dramatic changes in Russia-NATO relations as
Washington and Moscow recognize a new range of common security interests after September 11.

We will also listen to arguments that go beyond the question of NATO enlargement, considering whether an unprecedented historic process is
pushing the established and emerging democracies of Eurasia and North America to recognize mutual security commitments because they share common
political values.

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Conference Program

All presentations will be held in the Henry Art Gallery Auditorium, University of Washington, Seattle.  The conference is free and open to the public

Thursday, November 29, 2001 Day One: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the United States, and Russia

2:30 pm Opening Remarks Christopher Jones, Director, Institute for Global and Regional Security Studies; Associate Professor of International
Studies, UW

2:40 Views from Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn

Vygaudas Usackas, Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to the United States

Aivis Ronis, Ambassador of the Republic of Latvia to the United States

Eerik Marmei, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Republic of Estonia to the United States

3:50 Break

4:00 American Interests in the Baltic Region

Ted Galen Carpenter, Vice President for International Affairs, Cato Institute

Jack Mendelsohn, Vice President, Lawyers Alliance for World Security; Senior Associate, Center for Defense Information; Adjunct Professor, George
Washington University

Discussant: Zoltan Barany, Associate Professor of Government, University of Texas, Austin

5:00 Break

5:10 Russia, NATO and the Baltic States After Sept. 11, 2001

Ivan Safranchuk, Director, Moscow Office, Center for Defense Information

Discussant: Herbert J. Ellison, Professor of History and International Studies, UW

6:00 Break for dinner. 

7:30 Response to Previous Speakers

Robert Hunter, Former Permanent US Representative to the North Atlantic Council; Senior Advisor, RAND Corporation; Chairman of the Board, Council
for a Community of Democracies.

8:15 Open discussion

Ambassador Hunter, previous speakers, audience

9:00 Adjournment

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Friday, November 30 Day Two: European and Global Perspectives on the Baltic States and NATO

8:30 am Conference resumes: remarks by Christopher Jones

8:35 The Nordic States and the Baltic Region

Bengt Sundelius, Professor, Swedish National Defense University, Stockholm, and Uppsala University.

Väino Reinart, Deputy Undersecretary for Political Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Estonia

Janis Sarts, Deputy State Secretary for Defense Policy and Planning, Republic of Latvia

Discussants: Robert Hunter; Christine Ingebritsen, Associate Professor of Scandinavian Studies and Political Science, UW.

10:00 Break for mid-morning refreshments

10:15 Other Applicants to NATO: Who Should Be First in Line?

Zoltan Barany, Associate Professor of Government, University of Texas, Austin.

Discussant: Christopher Jones

10:55  James Huntley, Vice President, Council for a Community of Democracies, author, Pax Democratica (St. Martins, 1998/2000)

Discussants: 
Ted Galen Carpenter
Ivan Safranchuk

11:35 Open discussion

12:00 noon Conference ends.

The conference is sponsored by the Institute for Global and Regional Security Studies, with support from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
and the International Studies Center in the Jackson School of International Studies, by the Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies Center
(REECAS), and by the Baltic Studies Program in the Department of Scandinavian Studies.