Institute of International Relations, Prague, Czech Republic b Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University, New York, USA

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The US-Russian security 'reset': implications for Central-Eastern Europe and Germany

Nik Hynekab; Vit Striteckya; Vladimír Handla; Michal Kořana a Institute of International Relations, Prague, Czech Republic b Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University, New York, USA Online publication date: 28 June 2010

To cite this Article Hynek, Nik , Stritecky, Vit , Handl, Vladimír and Kořan, Michal(2009) 'The US-Russian security 'reset':

implications for Central-Eastern Europe and Germany', European Security, 18: 3, 263 — 285 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/09662831003657192 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09662831003657192

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European Security Vol. 18, No. 3, September 2009, 263285



The US Russian security ‘reset’: implications for Central-Eastern Europe and Germany Nik Hyneka,b*, Vit Striteckya, Vladimı´r Handla and Michal Korˇana a Institute of International Relations, 118#50 Prague, Czech Republic; bSaltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University, New York, USA

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(Received 10 November 2009; final version received 27 January 2010) The article examines the reactions of selected European states to the USperformed ‘reset’ in relations with Russia and explores the ways in which they have been adapting to the new set-up. The article is divided into three parts: after the discussion of the substantive continuity and limited change in US foreign and security policy (USFSP), the multilateral and bilateral dimensions of USFSP procedure are examined through John Ruggie’s theoretical observations. The second part of the article deals with implications of the USFSP for CentralEastern European countries. This part begins with a discussion of Russian attempts to wheedle Europe into embracing its plans for new European security architecture. The next section sheds light on the unexpected process of strategic realignment of the region (USA/NATO/EU/CSDP) and simultaneous transformation of the special relationship with the USA into ‘normal life’. The third part of the article tackles the implications of heightened USRussian bilateralism for Germany. Authors’ findings, many of them based on conducted elite interviews, suggest the contrary process, namely Germany’s strengthened multilateral commitment to the EU and specifically to European Security and Defence Policy, limiting the bilateral option to energy trade with Russia. What follows are concluding remarks. Keywords: USRussian relations; Central-Eastern Europe; Germany’s multilateralism and bilateralism; transatlantic security (NATO) and European security (CSDP); Obama vs. Bush; geopolitics

Introduction The US foreign and security policy (USFSP) after the accession of President Obama to the office has generally been appreciated and seen in positive terms, especially at the international level. On the surface, the USFSP under Obama has been understood through the radical shift in policy since the two presidential terms of George W. Bush. Without a doubt, Obama is the first US President since John F. Kennedy in whom the character of so-called celebrity diplomacy appeared and then became deeper. Obama possesses the ability to utilise new types of power which were unavailable to Bush because of his rigid positions and lack of international popularity. Obama has been very effective in his utilisation of direct and indirect public diplomacy, which is evidenced by his numerous video speeches that are strategically placed on the web portal YouTube or his ability to make speeches *Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] ISSN 0966-2839 print/ISSN 1746-1545 online # 2009 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/09662831003657192 http://www.informaworld.com

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264 N. Hynek et al. directly to the citizens of foreign states and, through this, mobilise their support. In light of this popular perception of Obama and, through him, also of the USFSP, it may be at first-sight counter-intuitive to argue that even though Obama is indeed seen as the president who put an end to several trends that were introduced by Bush, understanding the USFSP through the notion of discursive change is problematic at best and misleading at worst. The presented article attempts to cut through the stereotypical perceptions and popular assessments of the USFSP under President Obama. In doing so, a theoretically founded discussion of continuity and change in the USFSP is provided. This part is important in so far as the rest of the article tries to address the implications of certain overtures of Obama to Europe, especially his preference for deep strategic bilateralism in regard to Russia and also his preference for shallow nominal multilateralism in regard to NATO and the EU. As will eventually become clear, although Obama’s efforts towards accommodating Russia and verbally ‘resetting’ the US’ previous relationship with it are understandable in principle, the actual carrying out of Obama’s intentions and the political-strategic implications involved are now much more problematic, and the US approach towards Russia has raised concerns in Europe. The article will thus examine the reactions of selected European states regarding the ‘reset’ and explore the ways in which they have been adapting to the new set-up, including their foreign and security realignments. In order to assess the implications of the recent USFSP for Europe, the Central-Eastern European countries as well as Germany have been chosen to show unintended consequences of the combination of Obama’s strategic bilateralism towards Russia and his nominal multilateralism towards NATO and the European allies in general. The article is divided into three parts and proceeds as follows: after the discussion of the substantive continuity and limited change in the USFSP, the multilateral and bilateral dimensions of the USFSP are examined through John Ruggie’s theoretical observations concerning the anatomy of these institutions. As a part of this debate, two examples of nominal multilateralism are used to demonstrate Ruggie’s arguments: the US approach to NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission and its commitment to ‘NATO-ising’ the third pillar of the National Missile Defence. The analysis of the USFSP under Obama is then completed by an elucidation of the US bilateralism towards Russia, which has born characteristics of what the field of strategic studies has known as an instrumentally motivated strategic condominium. The second part of the article deals with the implications of the USFSP for Central-Eastern European countries. This part begins with a discussion of Russian attempts to wheedle Europe into embracing its plans for new European security architecture. It is in this geopolitical context as well as in the context of the perceived geo-strategic withdrawal of the USA from the region that emotional reactions and pleas to the USA to keep its commitment to the region are analysed. Although this has been the popular understanding of where the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region finds itself now, the next section sheds light on the unexpected process of the strategic realignment of the region (USA/NATO 0EU) and the simultaneous transformation of the special relationship with the USA into what has been described as ‘normal life’. The third part of the article tackles the implications of the heightened USRussian bilateralism for Germany. Specifically, this part contains a discussion of whether or not Germany will pursue a bilateral agenda as far as its security relationship with Russia is concerned. The authors’ findings, many of

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them based on conducted elite interviews, suggest the opposite process  namely Germany’s strengthened multilateral commitment to the EU and specifically to what is now Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), especially in light of Germany’s complicated situation in NATO, which limits the bilateral option for energy trade with Russia. The article then ends with some concluding remarks.

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US foreign and security policy under Obama Substantive issues: unbroken continuity and limited change Continuity and change in the USFSP have been the subject of theoretical and policy debates for some time. Whereas the logic of political process usually signals a clear break with the past, especially when the presidential incumbent does not or cannot stand for re-election, theoretical reflections often tend to point to existing patterns of continuity (Campbell 1998, Jervis 2005, Bennett and Shambaugh 2007, Wittkopf et al. 2007, Hoff 2008). As for perceptions of change in the USFSP, these are then attributed to material shifts and changes of ideational expectations at the level of the international system rather than being perceived as stemming from the radically different views of the new administration. At first glance, the actions and moves performed by Obama’s administration appear to defy the theoretical lessons and confirm the logic of change that emanates from the political process. Obama has been almost universally lauded for signalling his willingness to make a rupture with the Bush administration. It has often been noted that Obama’s plans to bury the Bush legacy, or, at other times, to display it in its bareness, were highly expected due to the general perception of Bush’s years in office as a failure. In this light, it may be unexpected to argue that while Obama has clearly distinguished himself from Bush at both the discursive and the procedural levels, an analysis of the substantive/thematic level sets the limits to the idea of Obama bringing about a significant change, thus confirming the theoretical arguments about continuity in the USFSP. This continuity can be found in every major issue of the current USFSP (Hynek 2009). For a suitable example, we can look at the most important issue of Bush’s legacy  Iraq. Obama  when he was still a presidential candidate  assumed a minority centreleft liberal position towards the war in Iraq, and his critical attitude was evident in fragmentary votes. His presidential decision which he announced at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina on 27 February 2009 was marked by a pragmatic shift in regard to the issue. Instead of the original tempo for pulling out of Iraq that Obama adumbrated during his presidential campaign, he opted for a compromise plan that stuck to the August 2010 pull-out (with the exception of the transitional component). This has been but one illustrative example of how radical electoral promises are neutralised and brought in line with the structural continuity of the USFSP. Other issues that seem to confirm such an argument are summarised in the Table 1.

Theorising the procedure: nominal multilateralism and deep bilateralism As already pointed out, there have been some signs of change in the USFSP at the procedural level. From a procedural perspective Bush’s rigid realism, which was based on a Manichean worldview, was replaced by Obama’s pragmatic realism,

266 N. Hynek et al. Table 1.

Continuity and change in the US foreign and security policy. Continuity

Iraq

Afghanistan

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Russia

Strategic, tactical and operational levels; acceptance of political responsibility by Obama Steady pressure on the allies, preference of the intra-NATO solidarity over any really effective solution on the ground Attempts to renew the armscontrol regime; continuation of the strategic-condominium style of negotiations and diplomacy

Iran

Basic strategy of rewards and punishments; the absence of a coherent strategy

North Korea

Basic strategy of rewards and punishments; the absence of a coherent strategy

Partial change Lowering the issue priority; reducing the rigidity of the withdrawal plan An increase in the priority of the issue and in the political responsibility; regional solution  the AfPak strategy Discourse on resetting bilateral relations; replacement of the third pillar of BMD by plans for a seabased BMD and the use of the issue for arms-control negotiations and for concerted pressure on Iran Strong discursive emphasis on the establishment of diplomatic dialogue; removing the conditions for the dialogue Discursive detachment of North Korea from Iran (the end of the axis of evil); the imposition of international sanctions

which nevertheless contains a strong idealist discourse. The idealist rhetoric has, however, often failed to materialise in practice as symbolic signals such as Obama’s warm handshaking with Chavez and suppression of critical references to China’s human-rights record show. Indeed, the first months of Obama’s policy suggest that the gap between the level of discourse and the level of political actions has been widened to an unprecedented degree. Most importantly for the purpose of this article, the first experience with Obama’s foreign and security policy has revealed his specific vision of the desirable character of international order. The intuitive assertion that Obama would prefer deep multilateralism after the period of Bush’s unilateralism has been proven rather incorrect, despite the fact that an emphasis on multilateral solutions has resonated in his rhetoric. More specifically, Obama’s foreign-political practice could be best conceptualised as nominal multilateralism (Ruggie 1992). This concept was used to criticise the shallow understanding of multilateralism by neo-liberal institutionalist scholars who emphasised the state’s formal commitments (presence at multilateral platforms and preference for a class of actions which would include three and more states; Krasner 1983, Keohane 1984, Oye 1986). What nominal multilateralism lacks is a strong qualitative dimension. As Ruggie (1992, p. 565) has shown, the nominal definition of multilateralism in fact subsumes institutional forms that have been traditionally attributed to bilateralism, but not to multilateralism. Importantly, Ruggie (1992, pp. 564568) distinguishes between an international order, an international regime and an international organisation and goes on to argue that each of these can be multilateral in its form. Indeed, Ruggie’s distinction enables us to see that while Obama’s multilateralism has been confined to the levels of international regimes and

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international organisations, his preference at the deepest level of international order has been for bilateralism. Since an interstate order is defined by Ruggie (1993, p. 12) as a set of ‘constitutive rules that order relations in a given domain of international life’, i.e. an architectural dimension, it becomes clear why at the levels of international regimes and international organisations his maximum could be nominal multilateralism. There has been a growing number of instances of Obama appearing to favour an international order based on a framework of interactions between great powers, especially including Russia and China. In contrast to the preference of a great power concert of the ninetieth century, Obama’s efforts towards a great power concert are not multilaterally based, but instead they involve a series of bilateral relations, i.e. bilateral parallelism. The crux is the US’ relationship with Russia in the form of a strategic condominium (for the concept, cf. Bellany 1983, p. 77, Kokoshin 1998, p. 198, Andrews 2005, p. 110) and the efforts towards the creation of a new strategic regime that would mutually link the USA with China in the realm of security. In the case of China, manifestations of this bilateralism exist only in areas outside of security (the economy, or the focal point of the Copenhagen Summit on global warming in the G2 interactions of the USA and China). Two examples: the NATO ISAF mission and missile defence Obama’s deepest preference for bilateral parallelism has been complemented by his nominal multilateral commitment, especially when dealing with the allies. The first illustrative example concerns the strategy for Afghanistan. President Obama made his ideas about the future action public on 27 March 2009, just a week before the NATO Summit held in Strasbourg/Kehl (Obama 2009). Arguably, his comprehensive statement was aimed at setting the agenda for the summit. Although there were no doubts about the leading role of the USA in Afghanistan, some of the strategic moves outlined by President Obama were met with considerable reservations in Europe (interview with a NATO official, NATO Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, 26 September 2009). Additionally, the NATO Summit in France and Germany was considered to be one of the first tests of Obama’s ability to convince the European allies to become more engaged in Afghanistan. This attempt to strengthen the multilateral framework came in difficult times as the security situation was dramatically deteriorating and many European governments were considering a withdrawal of their troops from Afghanistan. Although Afghanistan was one of the major topics in Strasbourg/Kehl, the Final Declaration remained concise and general on this issue (NATO 2004). It could be concluded that Obama’s so-called AfPak strategy became paramount to NATO’s strategy, and that the European allies were put in the position of actors who contribute to Afghanistan’s security and stability, rather than that of actors who actively participate in the production of the related strategy (interviews at ISAF Headquarters, Kabul, Afghanistan, 2630 September 2009). While President Obama nominally upheld the multilateral framework, he also showed an assertive strategy when pushing the agenda through. Whereas the case of the AfPak strategy at the levels of NATO as an international organisation and the related security regime (ISAF) shows at least patterns of nominal multilateralism, the example of missile defence, which is raised here and reaches Ruggie’s deepest level of international order, indicates a strong

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268 N. Hynek et al. bilateral tendency while neglecting the NATO multilateral framework. Bush’s administration decided to go ahead with the plan of the so-called third pillar of the US National Missile Defence (NMD) by placing its components in the Czech Republic (an X-band radar) and Poland (ten ground-based, exo-atmospheric interceptors). The issue of the third pillar of the NMD was originally discussed on a purely bilateral basis between the US Government and the Czech and Polish Governments. Although Washington as well as Warsaw preferred this format from the very outset, the effect of the Czech pressure (mainly due to the firm preferences of the Green Party, a junior coalition member) was the so-called NATOisation (multilateralisation) of the project. This was a logical move from a strategic point of view, as the NMD was to become a complementary part of the NATO’s Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence (ALTBMD) project (Hynek 2008). The resulting form was designed to provide for a complex defence against all types of ballistic missile threats. The process of NATOisation was officially embraced in the Bucharest Summit Final Declaration issued in April 2008 (NATO 2008). The formal declaration was crucial as it forged an uneasy consensus at the multilateral level, suppressing previous criticism of the third pillar of the NMD by the European allies. US bilateralism towards Russia: a strategic condominium in making? Despite the fact that in Central Europe the discourse on the MD was heavily burdened by simplistic geopolitics and historicism, in our view, it was the multilateral commitment that was at stake when President Obama was taking the decision regarding the third pillar of the BMD. This was the case not because of the result, but rather because of the procedure (or rather the lack of a procedure as far as coordination with the allies was concerned) through which Obama arrived at his decision. It was striking how NATO totally disappeared from his explanations of the future of the third pillar. Although the Strasbourg/Kehl Summit Final Declaration ‘reaffirmed’ the conclusions of the Bucharest Summit in this issue area, including the commitment to place the backbone of the future MD system at the NATO level, in reality, President Obama essentially took a unilateral (and bilaterally informed) decision to terminate the implementation of the third pillar (NATO 2004, Article 50). The context in which this development occurred is crucial for one’s comprehension of the link between Obama’s deeper preference for bilateralism and his nominal multilateral commitment. In regard to the former, the key priority for Obama was strategic arms-control negotiations with Russia (as well as his rather naı¨ve vision of a future disarmament). In order to achieve this goal, he completely reframed the third pillar of the NMD from a narrowly defined geo-strategic issue, as it was originally understood by Bush, into a political bargaining chip for negotiations about the nuclear-arms control and for a coordinated advance with Russia towards Iran (New York Times 2009). President Obama’s bilateral approach towards Russia follows a track that was already established by George W. Bush, who, in his final years in office, laid the foundations for what is termed here ‘the USRussian strategic condominium’. Being far from an inclusive framework, deep bilateralism tends to become a format for discussions of political and security issues that were traditionally reserved for multilateral platforms. The pattern of the strategic condominium could already be seen during the Secretary of Defence Robert Gates’ visit to Prague in October 2007.

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To the great surprise of the mass media and the then Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, Gates unambiguously hinted that the US Government was seriously discussing with the Russians their presence on the planned MD radar base in Brdy, Czech Republic (Hospoda´ `ıske´ noviny 2007). That this was not an aberration has repeatedly been suggested by the top meetings of the former Presidents Bush and Putin (in Sochi right after the Bucharest Summit) and of Presidents Obama and Medvedev (in London right before the Strasbourg/Kehl Summit and then in Moscow in July 2009). The US foreign policy’s propensity to deal with essential political and security issues such as missile defence or Iran within the framework of the strategic condominium presents a fundamental challenge for all European states, regardless of whether they are ‘new’ or ‘old’. The following lines discuss the already existing fallouts and also reflect on the implications.

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Implications for CEE countries: from frustrations to realignment Russia courts Europe Obama’s call for Europeans to strengthen their defence capabilities, as well as the US discourse on the ‘responsibilisation’ of Europe, has been interpreted differently in different political corners (The White House Office of the Press Secretary 2009a). It is becoming clear that the relative US withdrawal from Europe  regardless of to what extent it is perceived or real  is closely watched by Russia. A part of the most recent Russian strategy is trying to convince Russia’s European counterparts that the declining American interest in Europe consequently means that Russia and Europe need to strengthen their security interdependencies. In other words, a new European security framework  with less and less US involvement  is inconceivable without Russia’s fully fledged participation in European security issues (Korˇan 2009). Russia’s recent proposal for a new European security architecture (the so-called Medvedev plan) certainly capitalises on the perceived decline of the US role in European affairs. Although the first version of the Medvedev plan was introduced back in June 2008, it was the US decision to scrap the project of the third pillar of the BMD that reinvigorated the Russian efforts in this direction (Russia Today 2009). Some commentators correctly exposed the hidden agenda of the plan and the associated problems (if not dangers) for Europe in general and for Central European countries in particular. In regard to the former, attempts to divide and bind NATO as well as efforts to undermine existing European security treaties (the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty) are the most important; as for the latter, the most prominent problems have been Russia’s attempts to claim an analogue to the Monroe Doctrine for what Russia labels the ‘Near Abroad’ (van Herpen 2008, Lo 2009). Initially, there was some positive reaction to the plan in Europe back in 2008. The fact that the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, suggested after his meeting with Medvedev in November 2008 that ‘we could meet in mid-2009 to lay foundations of what could possibly be a future pan-European security system’ was largely influenced by his opposition to the then active US plans to build the third site of the NMD (Traynor and Harding 2008). Although one could be tempted to explain Sarkozy’s position as a result of France being one of the major European powers and of seeing the potential advantages of a closer security cooperation with Russia through a more direct

270 N. Hynek et al. approach, the analysis below, which relies on the most recent evidence, suggests a completely different development, both for France and for CEE countries.

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An emotional plea to the USA not to leave CEE Since the end of the cold war, there was  until Obama’s decision to trade the third pillar of the BMD for a more general strategic bilateralism with Russia  a general feeling that the region was secure due to its strategic and political importance to the USA. A majority of the CEE countries experienced strong governmental proponents of the security relationship with the USA. This hugely influential part of the political elite has been known throughout the region simply as the Atlanticists (Eichler 2005, Drula´ k et al. 2008). Thus, for example, Poland used the ‘supply-driven leadership’ which was offered by the then US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld to this regional champion of US values to self-consciously invent and install itself into the role of a senior ‘pro-European Atlantist’(cf. Stefan Batory Foundation 2004). This ambiguous label deserves a short comment on its political function. The intention was to simultaneously say three things: (1) that Poland, as an EU member, is sceptical and suspicious of the development of the CFSP/CSDP; (2) that Poland has considerable pro-American tendencies; and (3) that these tendencies are direct and often bypass NATO. This Polish self-perceived exceptionalism, driven by the political ambitions and supported by the domestic consensus, fittingly encountered the ‘Rumsfeldian’ American foreign policy, and Poland became a byword for the ‘New Europe’ (cf. Sˇ edivy´ and Zaborowski 2004, Stı`´ıtecky´ 2006). The situation was similar in the Baltic states, the Czech Republic and other regional states. This is not to say that small cracks (at first) and quite large cracks (later on) did not start to appear in the US CEE political interactions during the Bush administration. These could be attributed to a certain degree of disillusionment of the CEE countries with their treatment by the USA in light of their contribution to the stabilisation of Iraq, the mission in Afghanistan and, in the case of Poland, also to missile defence. The cracks stemmed mainly from the lack of material rewards that was expected by the CEE political elites in return for their participation in various coalitions of willing and also in the NATO ISAF mission. Judging by the political reaction, however, the biggest shock came when Obama announced his plan to cancel the US plans to build the third pillar of the BMD in September 2009. Since Obama’s inauguration, there has been a growing feeling in many CEE countries that they are being left behind by his administration, be it for the sake of better American relations with Russia or because the USA simply reconsidered its strategic commitment in CEE to engage in other  more important  parts of the world (for a telling analysis of the possible American realism towards Russia, see Sestanovich 2008, Korˇan 2009). The initial CEE panic, one cannot really call it by a different name, was quickly replaced by emotional pleas in which the darkest visions and traditional geopolitical realism are resurfaced. The whole region was portrayed as being in danger of falling into the closed sphere of influence called as the Near Abroad. An embodiment of this conviction  and of a strategy that stems from it  can perhaps best be seen in an open letter to Obama that was written by 22 prominent CEE thinkers, politicians and intellectuals, and published in the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza. The letter unveils deep concerns about President

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Obama’s new realistic foreign policy, which allegedly tends to overlook the CEE region and is said to lead to long-lasting damages, especially in regard to the restlessly growing ambitions of Russia. In the letter, the United States are asked to reconfirm their mission as a European power and show their readiness to stay fully engaged in CEE even though they face tough challenges elsewhere (Gazeta Wyborcza 2009a).

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The impossible happens: the Europeanisation of the CEE Atlanticists The open letter to Obama, which overflows with backward thinking, frustration and emotions, should not be taken as the universal measure of CEE political action. On the contrary, important and counter-intuitive changes can be seen in an analysis of the most recent steps of the regional political elite. In July 2009, Poland made an important and progressive decision to include the then European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) as one of the priorities of its EU presidency programme (the second half of 2011). What is more, Poland surprisingly joined France in its efforts to assert the European security dimension, with the potential to neutralise the previous French backing of Russian security plans. This new and quite unexpected partnership was made public when the French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kuchner, visited Poland in July 2009 (Gazeta Wyborcza 2009b). Consequently, Poland started to build a CEE coalition in order to support its decision to include the ESDP/CSDP among its political priorities (interview with a Senior Czech diplomat based in Poland, Warsaw, 6 September 2009). So far, the most interesting development in this direction has been Poland’s attempt to revitalise EU’s Group of Six (G6) platform, i.e. an unofficial group of the six most populated countries (Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain and Poland1; interview with a Senior Czech diplomat based in Poland, Warsaw, 6 September 2009). Although the original focus of the G6 was the substance of the third pillar of the EU (Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters), Poland has been trying to initiate discussions of other political issues, including the future shape and tasks of European security. The above development represents quite a departure from the previously dominant strategy of CEE countries to build their political standing through the means of cultivation of a special relationship with the USA. That the process of the Europeanisation of CEE in the security field has not been limited to Poland can be seen in the recent turn in the thinking of the prominent neoconservative and former staunch Atlanticist Alexander Vondra, who formerly served as the Czech Minister for EU Affairs (as a part of former PM Topolanek’s strategy to nullify the country’s ESDP/CSDP commitment) and has been one of the signatories of the open letter to Obama. He has openly stated that due to the US withdrawal from the region, it is the right time to take European security seriously and deepen ties among the European allies (Vondra 2008). Since Slovakia espoused a more pro-European security outfit in the security dimension already some 3 years ago, and as Hungary’s Atlanticism was always rather shallow and pragmatic (see Drula´ k et al. 2008, pp. 148150), it is obvious that the rock-solid pro-US orientation of the CEE countries that was long taken for granted has faded (cf. Debski 2009), with Poland, the Czech Republic and even the Baltic states (Jukneviciene 2009) shifting towards European security architecture and policy.

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‘Normal life’, not a ‘special relationship’ with the USA While it is still too early to fully assess the future potential of the discussed changes, it is already clear that there is much more political space within CEE for adopting a different view on the balance between pro-European and pro-US orientations. There has been a growing recognition that instead of building ‘special’ or ‘strategic’ relationships with the USA on a bilateral and/or regional basis, a stronger EU is needed in order for CEE to be a globally credible actor and politically responsible partner for the USA. An eloquent example of this new line of thinking was an address by the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radoslaw Sikorski, which was delivered on 5 August 2009 in San Francisco. Sikorski said, ‘We support building a more federal [European] Union, which is able to play in global fields of competition as one of the strongest players . . . I am sure that a Union, which is able to take its fair share of responsibility for global affairs, is compatible with interests of the United States’ (Sikorski 2009). Indeed, there is a growing understanding within CEE that a stronger Europe with its own reinvigorated security architecture is needed for dealing effectively with Russia. Recent efforts of CEE countries to centre their security commitments and loyalty on the EU have resonated well with the interests of the US Government. Taking into account a message that was conveyed by the US Vice President Joe Biden during his October 2009 trip to Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania, the USA strongly welcomed such initiatives. One of the key aims of Biden’s journey was precisely to confirm the ‘normalisation’ of the relationship between the USA and CEE, thereby encouraging these countries to become partners rather than prote´ ge´ s of the USA. In his speech on the USCEE partnership, Biden went on to paraphrase one of the old speeches of the former Czech president and signatory of the open letter to Obama, Vaclav Havel, maintaining that ‘[a] person who cannot move and live a normal life because he is pinned under a boulder has more time to think about hopes than someone who is not trapped in this way’ (The White House Office of the Vice President 2009b). It can be expected that the CEE countries will be more cautious and perhaps more self-confident when it comes to deal making with the USA from now on. The change of the discourse and an emerging political consensus on strengthening Europe, including Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and ESDP/CSDP, might become one of the most important changes in CEE of the past decade (Stı`´ıtecky´ and Hynek 2009). The ‘normalisation’ of relations with the USA and a significant shift towards the European Union do not, however, entail a resignation on the transatlantic agenda. The CEE countries have currently focused on the development of the new NATO Strategic Concept. In particular, the CEE countries have emphasised the need to gain NATO’s re-assurance with regard to the Article V of the Washington Treaty (interview with a high official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Prague, Czech Republic, 11 December 2009) as well as rejecting any agreement with Russia which would be modelled after the Medvedev Plan (for more details, see an interview with Radoslaw Sikorski; Central Europe Digest 2009). To sum up, it is clear that none of the CEE countries are willing to positively react to proposals to grant Russia more influence over European security affairs. Also, instead of seeking US protection by having a special status in the USFSP, which was previously an intuitive and near-automatic position (often at the expense of their

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relations with the ‘old member countries’), the CEE countries have genuinely begun to be interested in strengthening the European political and security project. How this stance can be translated into the overall European security strategy depends to a large extent on the position of Germany. Germany’s new government can be seen as the key to the future of European security and transatlantic relations. This role also involves rebuilding the strained ties between Germany and the CEE countries. After all, it was Poland where the new German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle went for his first official visit.

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Implications for Germany: strengthening ESDP/CSDP and balancing Russia ‘Improved vagueness’ with the USA, a complicated position in NATO Bilateralism usually comes to Germany as an offer from both Washington and Moscow. During the 1990s, the GermanUS relationship hinged on the strategic leadership the USA offered to the reunited Germany. George H.W. Bush in 1989 as well as Bill Clinton in the 1990s offered Germany a ‘partnership in leadership’ (Bush 1989). Germany under Helmut Kohl, however, always avoided exceptionalism in relations with the USA and sought to construct a new German foreign policy as a continuation of the rather low key presence of Germany in the international arena. This pattern was interrupted when the much more ambitious political attitude of the then German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder clashed with the unilateralist approach of the then US President George W. Bush. Schroeder’s ‘unlimited solidarity’ with the USA after 9/11 did not extend to the military pre-emptive action, where German policy saw a chance for political prevention (cf. Harnisch 2004, pp. 134, Lundestad 2004, pp. 34). The crisis of the GermanUS relations reached its peak when Berlin forged a ‘coalition of unwilling’ with France and Russia in order to oppose the US-led invasion of Iraq. The ostentatious emancipation from the US hegemony represented an unprecedented shift in German policy and, in light of the recent US steps which were discussed in the beginning of the article, the reason for the current worries concerning future moves by Germany (Stelzenmu¨ ller 2009, p. 89, Szabo 2009, pp. 2341). Despite the fact that the current German Chancellor Angela Merkel managed to restore much of the trust between Germany and the USA since 2005, several structural issues, nevertheless, separated Germany and the USA during the George W. Bush administration. These were mainly the ‘caveats’ visible in Germany’s limited engagement in the NATO ISAF mission in Afghanistan, its objections to NATO’s enlargement to Ukraine and Georgia, and its scepticism towards the third pillar of the NMD. With the Obama administration, the latter two issues, arguably, lost their critical relevance. The limitations on the German military involvement in Afghanistan, however, represent a test not only of GermanUS relations but also of the intraNATO unity itself. While German nation-building efforts in Afghanistan have been considerable and, up to a point, relatively successful, the same cannot be said about the country’s military contribution. Recently, Berlin has withdrawn the political mandate for the German Special Forces, which had previously been involved in war fighting alongside the US troops (Deutscher Bundestag 16. Wahlperiode 2008, p. 4). Germany’s future commitment is being put into question not only by the deliberate and sustained attacks by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda against German troops in

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274 N. Hynek et al. Northern Afghanistan but also by the associated threat of a possible legal action against German military personnel, as the case of the German commander who ordered an air strike in the Kunduz Province on 4 September 2009 and may stand trial for manslaughter in Dresden, Germany suggests (Der Spiegel 2009a, Der Spiegel 2009b). The situation seems to be anchored in zero-sum logic: on the one hand, there is considerable US pressure on Germany to engage in combat operations; on the other, German military involvement stretches beyond the country’s traditional postSecond World War normative taboo and is thus unpopular with the public. Obama’s nominal multilateralism towards NATO and his preference for deeper bilateralism in relation to Russia came as no surprise to most politicians in Berlin, and the reaction has been sober (interview with Karsten Voigt, Coordinator of GermanAmerican Cooperation at the Federal Foreign Office, Berlin, Germany, 29 June 2009). The only exceptions to this have been younger conservative politicians, who expressed their worries about a return of Russian imperial ambitions and directly criticised the USRussian strategic bilateralisms (von Kladen 2009b).2 The generally sober reaction can be attributed to the Germans’ conviction that their country will be even more important to the USA, particularly due to Germany’s pivotal role as a consensus builder within the EU as well as its possible role in the USRussian dealings. Indeed, the German foreign and security policy has always had to live with superpower bilateralism, and this forms the basis of Germany’s belief that the recent situation is not too different from previous US attempts to engage the USSR/Russia in political dialogue, mainly in the strategic arms-control domain (interview with a high official of the Federal Foreign Office, Berlin, Germany, 30 June 2009). However, it remains to be seen to what extent Germany, with its current problems in/with NATO, can rely on the traditional card of integrating this process into the Alliance’s multilateral framework (interview with a high official of the Federal Foreign Office, Berlin, Germany, 29 June 2009). Despite the calm German reaction, German politicians seem to guess rather than know what the future of their relationship with the USA will be. This has been clear from Merkel’s recent address to the US Congress, in which she discursively returned to the 1990s and the proved concept of ‘partnership in leadership’, although this time, the concept was discursively wrapped up in the European framework.3 These long-term settings will also delimit a space for the new German right-wing government. To begin with, it is unlikely that Angela Merkel will loose control over the agenda of relations with the USA and Russia. At the same time, she has not clearly presented her ideas concerning her country’s preferences in the area of foreign and security policy. Additionally, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Guido Westerwelle, who has been mentored by Hans Dietrich Genscher seeks to establish his profile through the introduction of two initiatives. Both, balanced Ostpolitik as well as intensification of relations with Poland and other CEE countries, could yet prove to be important but remain sketchy so far (Werner 2009). Also, there has been a notable tendency to domesticate German foreign and security policy, often incorrectly understood as re-nationalisation, lying in the attempts of domestic semi-sovereign actors in Germany, mainly the Federal Constitutional Court and La¨ nder, to gain more influence over the German foreign policy. This trend of ‘rescuing the nation state’ apparently sets new limits to executive driven foreign policy (Hranisch 2009, pp. 464466).

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Reinforcing the commitment to European security It is the real depth of the USARussian strategic bilateralism that will determine whether the USFSP will pose a challenge to or represent a chance for Germany. As the previous section showed, it is clear that the USA is not in a hurry to nail down the nature of its relationship with Germany. Also, due to the complicated position of Germany in NATO, one of the recent developments has been the significant German investment into strengthening EU security. The pro-European multilateralism of Germany is of a principal nature, going far beyond a purely instrumental approach. In Ruggie’s terms, it is rooted at the level of the international/European order. As far as Germany’s security strategy is concerned, it has rested on the notion of so-called reflexive multilateralism (Hyde-Price and Jeffery 2002, p. 690). The concept has been fulfilled by Berlin’s emphasis on the redirection of bilateral impulses into multilateral frameworks, especially by the strengthening of the EU as a security actor and the integration of Russia into the G8. Germany’s reflexive multilateralism can be understood as a deeply internalised, culturally induced habit, an approach used to secure influence and rely on confidence-building measures (Baumann 2002, p. 5). Since the former Chancellor Schroeder’s discourse on German ‘enlightened interests’ and the politics of the ‘German way’ (Hacke 2003), the previous German policy of an ‘exaggerated’ multilateralism has been transformed into a more pragmatic approach; today, Germany does not refrain from defining its national interest and preferences (Baumann 2006, Hellmann 2009). The pragmatic style of Germany’s foreign and security policy does not, however, suggest its de-Europeanisation, but, in the context of the recent steps of the USA and the country’s complicated situation in NATO, rather the opposite trend: its Europeanisation. Current developments suggest that Germany has moved beyond being what Waever calls an ‘anti-power state’, which was a characteristisation of Germany up until the recent past (Wæver 2005, p. 57). Thus, the latest document on the matter, which was jointly produced by Germany’s Federal Foreign Office and its Federal Ministry of Defence, emphasises that ‘German security policy is largely defined through the European Union. The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of the European Union and the ESDP as an integral part of the CFSP have assumed ever greater importance. In this context, the ESDP plays a decisive part in developing a balanced partnership with NATO and the United States’ (Germany’s Federal Foreign Office and Federal Ministry of Defence 2009). Furthermore, the Lisbon Treaty is perceived as an upgrading of the EU’s security potential as it broadens the spectrum of its actions. The member states commit themselves to mutual assistance (through a solidarity clause and a mutual defence clause; Art. 42/7). Significantly, small groups of states are allowed to act on their own when the mission secures the unanimous support of the Council. Last but not least, the European Defence Agency (EDA)’s competencies have been recently expanded to contribute to the regular assessment of participating EU countries in respect to their capabilities (interview with a high official of the Federal Foreign Office, Berlin, Germany, 30 June 2009). Although Germany has to a growing extent been committed to the ESDP/CSDP, it cannot itself ensure an efficient and effective EU collective security action. On the one hand, Germany shows a serious commitment to the multilateralist future of security and defence in the EU. Beyond political and institutional design, Germany’s

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276 N. Hynek et al. contribution is crucial, especially when it comes to the implementation of obligations concerning levels of troops of EU member states. Germany has actively co-shaped the system of battlegroups, which comes back to the Headline Goals. More specifically, Germany has been involved in the creation of eight battlegroups (in the period of 20072013), all of which are multinational. The country has become one of only a few EU states which were ready and able to offer their command and control capacity to the EU, created the European Operations HQ (Potsdam, Geltow) and has been actively engaging other EU states to use this instrument (Mo¨ lling 2007). To mention but one example of another EU state using this instrument, the joint Czech and Slovak battlegroup used the Operations HQ. The experience of close cooperation with CEE countries is perceived by the German military officials as an example of a new quality in the common action of the EU member states (interview with a high ranking official at the Federal Ministry of Defence, Berlin, Germany, 3 July 2009). On the other hand, should this push for Europeanisation fail, German policy has more room for manoeuvre than most of the other EU states. A high ranking German official acknowledged that military superpowers and great powers can  unlike Germany  conduct unilateralist policy, but he added that ‘Germany can take the liberty of bilateralism. Hopefully, we remain multilateral, but countries such as the Czech Republic are much more dependent on multilateralism than Germany. . .A failure of the Lisbon Treaty would come at a much greater expense for Czech interests than for German interests’ (interview with Karsten Voigt, Coordinator of GermanAmerican Cooperation at the Federal Foreign Office, Berlin, Germany, 29 July 2009). Paradoxically, like Germany’s multilateralism in the 1950s, this new bilateralism would come as a German reaction to the changing external environment  not as Germany’s first choice. Energy dealings with Russia: (decreasing) economic deviation The notion of a ‘strategic partnership’ has also been used in a different context  to depict the nature of GermanRussian energy relations. Not only has this language worried the USA, but also Germany’s partners in the EU have been suspicious of it for some time as well. The worries have been strengthened in light of the recent security situation, which was analysed in the previous sections. One could hear opinions suggesting that since the USA deepened its strategic bilateralism towards Russia, Germany could perhaps resort to the same strategy. The realm of energy has been then used to suggest that a precedent already exists. To what extent are these worries substantiated? To begin with, there are good reasons to believe that the much feared ‘strategic partnership’ between Germany and Russia has been less a reflection of political and security cooperation between the two countries than a realisation of their growing mutual dependency in the energy sector and pragmatic cooperation. The attempts of the former German Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank Walter Steinmeier to recast the ‘strategic partnership’ as a ‘modernisation partnership’ had all the typical features of the German Ostpolitik of the Brandt/Bahr era (Steinmeier 2008). The ‘change-through-rapprochement’ concept was no less controversial during the 1970s and the 1980s than it is now, as in both cases it was seen as an overly friendly attitude towards a difficult but important partner. German Atlanticists viewed it as an irresponsible drifting of the German social democracy towards Russia (von Kladen 2009). The proposal, however, was designed to make the

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relationship more matter-of-fact and, no less importantly, to raise the profile of Steinmeier’s policy agenda within the grand coalition (interview with an official of planning department of the Federal Foreign Office, Berlin, Germany, 22 April 2009). It has mostly been practical economic cooperation that has been at the heart of the GermanRussian relationship rather than political and security grand designs. The two countries proceed from quite different perspectives; the Russian policy often boils down to a zero-sum game attitude while Germany’s follows the logic of nonzero-sum games, which allows for absolute gains. Also, neither the German public nor the mainstream German media are pro-Russian. Additionally, the ‘strategic partnership’ has little social backing. Not even the German classe politique has engaged in deliberation on relations with Russia; there are only a few politicians who have their own Russian expertise and entertain direct contacts with the Russian policy-makers, let alone broader societal circles (interview with editor of Osteuropa Volker Weichsel, Germany, Berlin, 24 April 2009). The bulk of GermanRussian relations thus fall into the realm of the economic. There are 4600 German firms which operate in Russia, and Russia occupied the 12th place among the importers of German goods and the eighth place among exporters into Germany in mid-2008 (Statistisches Bundesamt 2009). The German Government has sought to secure Russian investment into the German economy, especially into some of its hard struck companies, such as the Wadan shipyards or Opel. The German Government has even shown a readiness to risk criticism from the EU Commission. In fact, Germany has always shown resilience in its pursuit of the national interest when it came to the economy and securing energy resources. What is often forgotten is the fact that even the Kohl Government did not give in to the US pressure and continued the gas pipeline deal with the USSR, which effectively started the export of massive gas and oil supplies from today’s Russia to Germany and Western Europe.4 How important are the energy links between the two countries in political terms really? Most importantly of all, Germany is ever less inclined to perceive its energy relations with Moscow as a security issue, thereby effectively refusing the discourse on ‘energy security’ (see for example, Go¨ tz 2009, pp. 318). The German readiness to push ahead with the North Stream project, notwithstanding the criticism from CEE countries, represents a rather rare example of the national focus of German policy in the area of international trade. Nevertheless, after the gas crisis in January 2009, the German support for the North Stream and the South Stream pipelines has been extended to include the EU’s ‘counter-project’ of the Nabucco pipeline. Joshka Fischer has become an adviser to the Nabucco project in a gesture of defiance directed against his former boss Schroeder and the North Stream project (Freifeld 2009). What is more, a partial Europeanisation of the German energy policy has been under way, and it opens up chances to progress with the energy agenda in the EU. While Germany may not be a driving force of the EU’s energy policy, it is not expected to obstruct it either (interview with two high ranking officials of the Foreign Office, London, UK, 28 May 2009). Therefore, the picture has become more diverse. On the one hand, Germany is deepening its cooperation with Russia; for example, a GermanRussian energy agency has been launched by Merkel and Medvedev in July 2009 in order to increase the efficiency of the Russian energy sector with the help of modern German technologies (Bundesministerium fu¨ r Wirtshaft und Technologie 2009). During the German elections on 27 September 2009, German voters expressed their opinions about the level of Germany’s dependence on Russian energy supplies

278 N. Hynek et al. (Vinocur 2009). Finally, one of the top priorities of the new German Government has been the diversification of energy resources (Wachstum. Bildung. Zusammenhalt 2009, p. 22).

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Germany’s multilateral security balance with Russia Unlike the bilateral energy policy with Russia, Germany’s security policy towards Russia has been based on the former country’s strategy of redirecting Russia’s bilateral offers to multilateral settings (the so-called reflexive multilateralism). Since the end of the cold war, Russia has not been seen by the majority of German politicians as a threat in military terms.5 While Germany’s reaction to the Georgian Russian war over South Ossetia in 2008 had been unambiguously critical, the later German attitude to Moscow has been one of damage limitation and engagement rather than containment (Dembinski et al. 2008). As insiders know too well, Germany prevented any proposal in the EU that could have led to a tougher line with Russia (Horsley 2009, p. 21). Thus, many have not been surprised when the German reaction to the proposal of President Medvedev for negotiations about the future European security architecture has been positive. Proceeding from a process-oriented approach to international security, any intensive dialogue with Russia is viewed in Germany as a chance to overcome the existing estrangement. At the same time, however, even the supporters of such an approach to Russia see the limits of such a dialogue; a new European security treaty is only a matter of the distant future and cannot be based on Russian preferences. In the meantime, the role of the OSCE may not be questioned and the example of the CFE mechanism should be used to resort to further arms-control talks (Steinmeier 2009). Except for Die Linke, the most leftwing party represented in the Bundestag, no German political party is in favour of abandoning the existing security framework, which is based on NATO and the EU (Die Linke 2009). German policy is post-Bismarckian in its attitude to Russia; while trading with Russia on a bilateral basis, Germany maintains its integrated security ties with the EU and NATO. The security area offers a good example of Germany’s multilateral commitment vis-a`-vis Russia as the bilateral fixation on Russia in the economic/ energy field has not been replicated here. While Germany has been instrumental to the EU and NATO and has worked with or through them (the imperative ‘nie wieder allein’), Russia has never experienced effective multilateral integration. Germany has thus remained cautious when it came to bilateral dialogue on issues concerning European security and the wider interests of the Euro-Atlantic community. Consequently, when it came to military cooperation, the GermanRussian links have been rather embryonic. They are based on formal contacts and official visits and in no way correspond to the word ‘strategic’ in the description of the German Russian partnership (interview with two officials at the Federal Ministry of Defence, Berlin, Germany, 22 May 2009). The new conservative-liberal government of Germany perceives Russia as a partner in dealing with a number of regional and global challenges. At the same time, the emphasis is not on security or military cooperation, but on the political will to help Russia to proceed with democratisation and the establishment of the rule of law (Wachstum. Bildung. Zusammenhalt 2009, p. 120).

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Thus, what is the real issue in Germany’s relations with Russia in the context of recent moves of the USA and NATO? It seems most unlikely that the balance between the German energy bilateralism with Russia and the German security multilateralism will be distorted in favour of further ‘bilateralisation’ of security under the MerkelWesterwelle Government. The historically symbiotic relationship between Prussia and Russia (Stent 2007, p. 436) can hardly translate into an effective strategic partnership between Germany and Russia without Germany becoming increasingly embedded in the EU and NATO. Even the pragmatic pro-Russian business community does not seek to depart from Western integrated structures but rather to gain extra room for manoeuvre  and thus a special bonus and profit from dealing with Russia. Rather than drifting towards exclusive security bilateralism with Russia and/or the USA, two other issues loom large over the German policy of the new conservative-liberal government. First, the new German question seems to be the one of Germany’s responsibility for changing Russia’s attitude to the West and of the German ability to stand up to Russia if necessary (Stelzenmu¨ ller 2009). Second, it is not yet clear in both principle and practice how the bilateral strategic interest in securing the Russian oil and gas supplies will be integrated into the multilateral framework of the European energy security policy and solidarity. Germany, like other big EU states, has developed a tradition of sovereignty in the energy sector, which is not easy to abandon. Conclusion It might be considered untimely to draw conclusions about the impacts of the USFSP on European security as President Obama has been in office for less than a year at this point. However, this effort can still be supported by two issues addressed in this article. First, Obama’s foreign and security policy steps have been closely watched, i.e. something that is natural in light of his discursive rupture with the past as well as his rhetorical emphasis on the resetting of USRussian relations. The enthusiasm which has accompanied Obama’s inauguration and his first months in office bedimmed an analytically fundamental gap in the USFSP between the level of discourse and the level of practices. Second, the reflections of Obama’s USFSP have already been visible at the level of policy-making and political strategy in CEE countries and Germany and suggest interesting  and sometimes unexpected  political dynamics. One of the most important trends, both for Germany and (more surprisingly) for CEE countries, has been the notable push for an Europeanisation of the foreign and security policies of these countries, including their commitments to the ESDP/CSDP. The article has shown that Obama’s deepened bilateralisms vis-a`-vis Russia and his nominal multilateralism towards NATO and the European Union have lead to several important security- and foreign-political dilemmas and revealed certain ambiguities. Although the offer of a strategic bilateral arrangement is extremely tempting for Russia, a country which traditionally strives for a relation of this sort, Russia’s options are not limited to a principal role in an instrumentally oriented strategic condominium. Another traditional tendency could materialise in Russia’s bilateral ties with Germany following the two countries’ progressive significant energy cooperation. As we showed in the article, however, this possibility is not currently on the table as Germany’s politicians have been very careful to balance the

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280 N. Hynek et al. bilateral economic ties with a reflexive multilateral approach in the domain of security. Last but not least, Russia could opt for making the best of the potential strengthening of the European multilateral security frameworks and lean closer to common European security interests, which would fulfil the traditional German idea of Russia being a part of an inclusive European security multilateralism. Consequently, Germany’s possibilities include that of joining the framework of bilateral parallelisms while building strategic relations with both Russia and the USA. This situation would apparently mean the worst-case scenario for the European multilateral projects such as the CFSP and the ESDP/CSDP, which have been of vital interest for the CEE countries. It should be noted, however, that the general German preference remains with NATO and the EU, with the latter developing into a more effective instrument of foreign, security and defence policy after the Lisbon Treaty is ratified. As mentioned above, Germany will endeavour to create room and incentives for Russian engagement in the European security framework, and attempt to balance its position within the EU’s emerging energy policy, thus making the bilateral and multilateral levels complementary. Finally, the Polish case has revealed perhaps the strongest ambiguities. For a long time, Poland aspired, arguably with limited success, to a special relationship with the USA, installing itself into the role of the principal European Atlantist and backed by an overwhelming domestic consensus in this orientation. For this reason, the recent Polish turn towards the ESDP/CSDP, which was analysed in the article, has a transformative potential for Poland’s traditional loyalty. On the other hand, the fact that the ESDP/CSDP has been kept as one of the options for the country has been revealingly expressed in Poland’s latest efforts to harbour a US Army military base that would serve as a geopolitical shield against Russia after Obama’s redefinition of the NMD plans. Indeed, although it seriously turned towards the ESDP/CSDP, Poland and, to a lesser though not insignificant degree, other CEE countries have a long way to go in reconciling their geopolitical imageries with the German efforts to multilaterally bring Russia to Europe. Acknowledgements The authors thank Richard Betts, Robert Jervis, Volker Weichsel and anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier drafts of this article. The article examines the reactions of selected European states to the US-performed ‘reset’.

Notes 1. Very recently, Poland’s interpretations of the so-called G6 have been modified so that Italy and Spain were not counted among the six members, but the EU presidential country and the European Commission were (thus replacing Italy and Spain). This can be read as Poland’s further attempt to establish itself as one of the major EU powers (interview with a Polish Security Analyst familiar with this development, Brno, the Czech Republic, 6 November 2009). 2. According to von Klaeden, Russian policy has ‘unmistakably neo-imperialist traits’ (see Internationale Politik 2009, p. 23). 3. ‘Merkel remembered the ‘‘generous offer’’ but further elaborated only on a partnership between Europe and the United States, avoiding direct references to USGerman bilateralism’ (Die Bundeskanzlerin 2009).

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4. Germany imports about 32 per cent of its oil and 37 per cent of its gas from Russia. The most important and the most controversial GermanRussian project is the North Stream gas pipeline. The pipeline is worth 6 billion euros and will supply Germany and Western Europe with 55 bcm per year, bypassing the traditional transit countries  Poland and Ukraine, and also the Baltic states. Essentially a private project, the North Stream would never have taken off without the crucial  and controversial  involvement of the former German Chancellor Schroeder. Importantly, the German Government has secured the support of the European Commission for this enterprise. 5. The principal change of the security environment (the peace dividend of the end of the cold war) has been at the core of the new security policy of Germany since the early 1990s; Russia is perceived not as a threat but as a partner. See the ‘Verteidigunspolitische Richtlinien 2003’ (the principal directions of the German defence policy) as adopted by the government of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Greens in 2003. Similarly, the government of the Christian Democratic Union (CDUCSU) and the SPD exceptionally referred to Russia in its white paper on security and armed forces as a ‘security partner’ (see Bundesministerium der Verteidigung 2006, p. 23; similarly see Belkin 2008).

Notes on contributors Nik Hynek is Research Fellow at the Institute of International Relations, Prague and Lecturer at Charles University and Metropolitan University. Previously, he was Visiting Research Scholar at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University, USA and Visiting Research Fellow at the London School of Economics. He has largely researched on international security and theories of IR. His publications have been accepted, among others, to Security dialogue, Defence studies, Journal of international relations and development, International journal, Contemporary political theory, or Communist and PostCommunist studies. Nik has co-edited Canada’s foreign and security policy for Oxford University Press (with David Bosold) and Critical human security studies for Routledge (with David Chandler). Vit Stritecky is a Research Fellow at the Institute of International Relations in Prague, Czech Republic and a Ph.D. candidate and lecturer at the Charles University, where he reads methodology and theory of security studies, critical security studies, and Marxism in IR. He has previously studied IR at Charles University, conflict studies at the Uppsala University, Sweden and international security at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. He is the author of several book chapters and journal articles dealing with the Czech and European security policies and Georgian post-Soviet security and politics. Vladimı´r Handl is a Research Fellow at the Institute of International Relations. He worked in 19962000/20022003 for the Institute of German Studies (University of Birmingham), was Visiting Fellow at a number of German research institutions (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Deutsche Gesellschaft fu¨ r Auswa¨ rtige Politik, Helmut Schmidt Universita¨ t der Bundeswehr in Hamburg among others). His main research focuses on German foreign, security and European policy, CzechGerman relations, Czech foreign and security policy, transition of the communist parties in Central Europe. Michal Korˇan holds his Ph.D. in international relations (2008), he is a head of research at the Institute of International Relations, Prague and an assistant professor at the department of International Relations and European Politics at the Masaryk University in Brno. He mainly focuses on foreign policies of the Central European countries and on the role of the Central European region in European and world politics. He has written many scholarly articles and book chapters on this issue and he is a coordinator of the team of authors of the annual Czech foreign policy analysis monographs.

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