Ferdinando Salleo, Italian Ambassador to the United States, spoke on campus yesterday of the need for creative diplomacy to help establish "continental security" in post-cold war Europe.
"The Atlantic Alliance and NATO are in the process of redefining their aims ... from defense to security and crisis management," he said.
This process will also include the extension of the Alliance to eastern Europe and Russia, Salleo said.
While there is still a danger of fracture within Europe due to massive migration and underground nationalist movements, Salleo said that the wave of elections in Russia shows the "nostalgia for communism" has ended.
The ambassador said the threat of large-scale war has been replaced by uncertainty, and spoke of the need for the creation of a "post-cold war, post-Soviet continental stability."
An audience of more than 100 heard Salleo in the Michigan Union's Welker Room during the event sponsored by the International Institute. LSA alum Rob Kraft said he enjoyed the ambassador's speech.
"It's interesting to hear someone who's on the inside talk about what are the problems with integration," Kraft said. "This is a great time for the world because of the fall of communism ... this is really a revolutionary time."
Salleo said the biannual Atlantic Alliance meeting has become "largely ceremonial." He said he disagrees with those who say the Atlantic Alliance was brought about solely by the threat of the Communist bloc and is no longer necessary. Salleo said the alliance was brought about by shared "pluralistic values."
Russia, which has been isolated historically, does not share these values, he said.
"I personally see the extension of the alliance as a process, not a decision," he said. Salleo said the fall of every great empire has been followed by a period of flux and upheaval.
"The succession of Russia has just begun," he said.
With the admission of new members into the alliance, Salleo said there is a need for confidence-building systems as well as a push for arms control and disarmament.
"The European Union has accepted new members in principle but everybody knows the path will be long and arduous," he said.
Salleo said the alliance will look to Russia to play a "positive and securing role" as it fuses diplomatically with the west. "The litmus test will be nuclear non-proliferation," he said.
He said the Alliance has imposed certain conditions for admission. "Russia possesses an immense potential," he said.
Russia's inclusion in the alliance will be based on its "contribution to fighting the global crises: terrorism, drug trafficking, environmental disasters, hunger and the local crisis of Bosnia."
Countries that have shown a commitment to these goals will be invited to be a part of the alliance, Salleo said.
LSA junior Jed Friedman said he enjoyed the ambassador's speech but felt Salleo spoke mainly in generalities.
"It was pretty much a non-issue," he said. "The integration of Europe is kind of a given."
WARREN ZINN/Daily
Italian Ambassador to the United States H.E. Ferdinando Salleo talks with Jim Adams of the economics department before his speech at the Welker Room in the Michigan Union yesterday.