11092 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS May 25, 1993 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS "REAGAN DOCTRINE" NEEDED And what organization has played a more after martial law, to stir up opposition to FOR BOSNIA, A NEW APPROACH pivotal role in ensuring democracy in West­ the Milosevic dictatorship, which is clearly a FOR RUSSIA ern Europe and in brining about the end of large part of the problem. the Cold War than NATO? And what better This strategy is not guaranteed to be effec­ reason is there than our unified voice regard­ tive, and will certainly lead to an upsurge in HON. GERALD B.H. SOLOMON ing the Balkans to keep this tremendous or­ the violence in the short run. But it is cer­ OF NEW YORK ganization together? NATO can and will con­ tainly a better idea than stuffing the Bal­ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES tinue to play a stabilizing and democratizing kans full of Western troops, who would be role in Europe. subject to a Beirut or Vietnam-type situa­ Tuesday, May 25, 1993 But we clearly need to refine our mission. tion. And it certainly is better than leaving Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, I had the And each country needs to rethink its role in in place an unconscionable arms embargo, great privilege of representing this body at the the alliance. For while we have spoken in which is depriving a helpless people of the meeting last weekend of the North Atlantic As­ unison regarding the Balkans, we have been ability to fight for their lives. unable to come up with a coherent, effective I would hope that NATO could agree on sembly, the parliamentary arm of NA TO. policy. We have clearly failed to stabilize the this strategy, for if we cannot even agree on What I found, unfortunately, was the desire situation in the former Yugoslavia. Our ef­ this small step to counter the Serbs, I fear of our European allies that America commit forts have been half-hearted, untimely, and for how we will deal with potentially bigger her own troops to that seemingly intractable have lacked integration. problems in the future. civil war. It is lamentable that it took us nearly a As far as I'm concerned, and as far as the year to impose even partial sanctions on Ser­ REMARKS BY CONGRESS'.\iAN GERALD B. SOLO­ American people are concerned, that is out of bia, and even more so that it was only last MON AT THE POLITICAL COMMITTEE OF THE the question. month that we put some teeth into them. It NORTH ATLANTIC ASSEMBLY, BERLIN, GER­ MANY, MAY 24, 1993 The American people are equally opposed, is embarrassing that the foreign minister of Bosnia has requested that UN troops leave Mr. Speaker, to the United States throwing bil­ Ladies and Gentleman: Once again, the his country, saying, in effect, that they are taxpayers of our countries are being asked to lions of dollars at the former Soviet Union, in the way. And it is inexcusable, in my ante up in order to ··save" democracy in only to see it wasted. view, that we maintain an arms embargo Russia and the former Soviet Union. I would I spoke on those two issues bet ore the against an outmanned, outgunned people like to suggest today that we rethink our en­ North Atlantic Assembly. I told our European who have been subject to merciless attack. tire approach to the Russian problem, as I counterparts that what was needed in Bosnia Now, there is no way, in my view, that we feel we are on the verge of wasting tens of was an adaption of the Reagan doctrine, can impose a military solution on this crisis. billions of dollars on efforts that will actu­ which worked so well a decade ago in Afghan­ I have been and will continue to be against ally stymie reform there. istan, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. Let us keep the use of direct American military involve­ Now please, don't misunderstand me. I am ment in the Balkans, either to impose a solu­ 100 percent behind President Yeltsin and his our own soldiers home, but let's give freedom tion or enforce Bosnia's division into ethnic reformist allies over there. Their efforts to fighters the ability to defend themselves. I cantons. We are not going to solve centuries­ rid their society of the vestiges of com­ urged lifting the arms embargo on the Bosnian old problems in this manner. We have only munism are truly heroic. And I understand Muslims. to remember that Hitler could not tame this fully the enormous stakes that we have in In my speech on Russia, I repeated my sup­ region with forty-three divisions in order to seeing a successful transformation to market port for Boris Yeltsin and all genuine reform­ realize the potential for a quagmire in the democracies in all of these countries. A suc­ ers. Balkans. cessful transformation will pave the way to­ Mr. Speaker, I place both speeches in to­ But it seems to me that the debate has ward unparalleled human advancement. An been allowed to be dominated by those who day's RECORD, and urge Members to read aborted transformation could unleash a advocate an all-or-nothing approach. Be­ reign of terror across Eurasia. Therefore, we them. tween the chorus of calls for direct military must stay engaged in this process. REMARKS BY CONGRESSMAN GERALD B. SOLO­ intervention on the one hand, and bland calls But is Western money really the answer to MON AT THE PLENARY SESSION OF THE for more dialogue and humanitarian aid on this problem? An analysis of the Russian po­ NORTH ATLANTIC ASSEMBLY, BERLIN, GER­ the other, the middle view has been drowned litical situation, the Russian economy and MANY, MAY 24, 1993 out. the history of Western development aid Ladies and Gentlemen: Today we in NATO We Republicans in the U.S. House of Rep­ yields an emphatic answer of "no·· to this are faced with an incredibly complex chal­ resentatives have drafted a plan that pursues question, but here we are. ready to dump an­ lenge in the Balkans. It seems amazing, but just this middle course. It is based upon a other $28 billion into a black hole. Worst of the place where World War I began continues strategy that has proven its mettle in the all, most of this money is ticketed to go to to be a cauldron of ethnic strife and intrac­ past, in numerous different situations. In the place that least needs it: the Russian table problems. Seventy-nine years ago, vio­ America, we called it the Reagan Doctrine. government. lence in the Balkans sucked the European It is a relatively simple approach that The labyrinth that is the Russian govern­ empires and America into a savage war rests upon the idea of letting other freedom­ ment is not just a sinkhole for our money; it which killed millions. loving peoples have the means to fight their is the source of the problem in Russia. It is Today, to our great credit, we have man­ own battles. nothing but the remnants of the apparatus aged to avoid this terrible fate. Today, in­ This policy jettisoned the Soviets from Af­ which tyrannized and pauperized the Russian stead of empires lining up behind one or the ghanistan, forced democratic elections in and Soviet people under Communism. It other side in the former Yugoslavia, the vio­ Nicaragua and prevented a communist take­ needs to be dismantled, not propped up with lence, and the main perpetrators of it, the over of El Salvador, without the loss of a sin­ cash. The notion that a market economy can Serbs have been met with universal con­ gle American life. be constructed by a series of government ac­ demnation. Even our old adversaries, the We should let the Bosnians, who have tions is itself contradictory. What the Rus­ Russians, have joined us in our efforts to shown their love of country and their val­ sian government needs to do is implement a stop this bloodletting. iance, fight their own battle. But they need proper commercial code and get out of the The reasons for this difference between the means to do it. Let's give them the way. Then, the talented Russian people, in now and 1914 are clear: The democratization means by lifting the arms embargo. Let's concert with hungry Western investors, will of Western Europe after World War II and keep the tightest possible sanctions on Ser­ build a market economy from the ground up. the Russian Revolution of 1991 have brought bia and make clear to the Croatians that President Yeltsin and his top economic ad­ America, Europe and Russia closer together they face the same if they don't clean up visors understand this, but they are blocked and now we are all travelling down the same, their act. We can also take other steps such by reactionaries in the Parliament, who con­ civilized path, together. Let us hope that as establishing contact with the democratic tinue to dawdle on such critical issues as this will always be. opposition in Serbia, like we did in Poland land ownership and bankruptcy laws. Mean- e This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. May 25, 1993 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 11093 while, the Central Bank, controlled by Par­ less possibilities if we just seize the moment.