In Estonia’s case, last week’s meetings must be considered a success. Kallas’ visit to Capitol Hill was his first, hopefully not last as PM. first As the country’s Foreign Minister under Tiit Vähi in 1996 Kallas found that dealing with the US administration was often easier than with those of small European countries. It is well known that in politics contacts are often more important than policies, although in Estonia’s case the policies established and maintained by Kallas’s luminary predecessors (and followers) have been as important as any personal quality. Reference is made here to former Foreign Minister, later President Lennart Meri, Prime Minister Mart Laar, Kallas’ predecessor in the post, and Foreign Minister Toomas Hendrik Ilves, all of whom brought and lobbied for Estonian national interests in Washington.
The most important meeting, of course, was with Dubya on September 4th. Siim Kallas gave a telephone interview to Estonia Television on the day after, and remarked that things had gone exceedingly well. President Bush was well-informed about our country, the meeting lasted longer than the time allocated for it, and Bush exuded statesmanship, unlike what the critical media has said of late.
According to Kallas, Bush said that the US gives its strong support to Estonia’s accession to NATO, something confirmed later in the week by the Senate Foreign Affairs Committe. Yet Bush added that nothing had been decided conclusively. Much work lies ahead for Estonia and her leadership. But, as should be noted here, the American president would hardly invite Kallas to Washington two months before the Prague summit, if Estonia was trying to draw for an inside straight. No fait accompli this NATO, thus for our American readers we remind them that the efforts of JBANC and BAFL, documented elsewhere in this issue, still need consistent, strong support, up until the final decision has been made.
Here Bush was most certainly influenced by the pro-Russian National security adviser Condoleeza Rice, who, along with the President’s Chief of Staff Andrew Card, and Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Jones were also present at this meeting.
Earlier in the day Siim Kallas met with representatives of the Joint Baltic American Council (JBANC).. The other significant meeting of September 4th was with IMF General Dorector Horst Kohler. Although the IMF expressed concerns about Estonia issuing a second budget last month, the IMF in general has been very positive about Estonian economic reform.
The more curious — perhaps not, given a glimpse into the past — meeting was the next day with former Vice-President and loser to Bush in the last presidential election, Democrat Al Gore. They had evidently been in touch before, during the mid 1990’s. The two men may have more than presidential ambitions in common — it has long been rumoured that Siim Kallas is working towards an eventual presidential election. However, considering that Gore held his post when Kallas actually was a president — from 1991-1995 he ruled the Bank of Estonia, prior to becoming Foreign Minister, it is certain that economic issues were discussed. This in view that Gore’s involvement in Russia’s attempts at economic reform has been well documented, there remain questions to be answered to this day about his role in the 1998 economic collapse there.
Cynicism aside, the Prime Minister’s press office indicated that while economic issues were indeed on the agenda, Kallas and Gore addressed other pressing concerns as well. Gore has long been known, on paper at least (authoring a book on the topic) as a strong environmentalist. While the US administration hardly does what it preaches in this area, it was a welcome topic, as the Estonian environmental voice, affected as it is by the legacy of the Soviet past, Russian pollution and European industrialization needs to be heard on the international stage. Gore and Kallas also discussed geopolitical issues, the most obvious would have been the Saddam question. It would have been interesting to have been a fly on the wall during that talk. Hardly surprising, that, as other than the upcoming terrorist act anniversary there is no other issue as burning as what to do with Iraq, what Bush will do, and who will he draw into the fray with him.
Even though the summer has seen conflicts — such as Ambassador to Estonia Joseph De Thomas’ Holocaust opinions, differences regarding European-American trade agreements, and the afore mentioned ICC extradition question, it must be remembered that such things are common in politics. Differences of opinion between allies are lot less significant than those between opposing countries.
Some concern remains about the bonhomie between Russia and the US, perhaps that is why Kallas met with Gore, as an acknowledged Russia “expert”. And that is also precisely why nothing should be taken for granted with the NATO ascension, support for Baltic-American lobby groups must be given firmly and convincingly until membership is secured in the treaty organization that will back Estonia’s security goals of the future.