Magyar News, 1997. szeptember-1998. augusztus (8. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1998-02-01 / 6. szám
NATO CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 of Defense estimated that about 40 percent of direct enlargement could be nationally funded and 60 percent could be commonfunded. This would mean that new members would pay approximately 35 percent, current (non U.S.) members would pay 50 percent, and the United States would pay its 24 percent share. In dollar terms that would mean that the U.S. would pay approximately $80-100 million a year for ten years, and Hungary $55 million. In light of the enormous benefits which enlargement will bring to both Europe and the United States, it represents extraordinary value for the money. The costs for Hungary would arise whether she is accepted to NATO or not. She will have to modernize her armed forces - if anything, military spending would be higher in an insecure, unattached Central Europe. A decision not to enlarge NATO would also carry heavy costs for the United States: it would constitute a declaration that NATO will neither address the challenges nor accept the geography of a new Europe. NATO would be stuck in the past, risking irrelevance and even dissolutioa Those are the costs the U.S. cannot afford. The real alternatives for the next decade or two are either an expanding and unifying Europe, pursuing the goal of continental Europe with American involvement, or a stalemated Europe, not moving much beyond its current state of integration and geographic scope, with Central Europe remaining a geopolitical no-man's land. History does not tolerate no-man's lands and opens the door to old power rivalries . In a stalemated Europe, it is almost inevitable that either Germany or a resuscitated Russia will be promoting more nationalistic state interests w ith tragic consequences for Central Europe . Even for America, the first option is clearly the best but we must wholeheartedly support it if it is to come to pass . As Zbignew Brezinski, the former Security Adviser to the president of the United States from 1977 to 1981, put it: the essential point regarding NATO expansion is that if Europe is to base its security on a continued alliance with America, then it follows that its most exposed sector, central Europe, cannot be excluded from partaking in the sense of security that the rest of Europe enjoys through the transatlantic alliance. Ultimately at stake in this effort is America's long-range roll in Europe. A new Europe is still taking shape. If that new Europe is to remain a part of the "Euro-Atlantic" space, the expansion of NATO is essential. If the effort to widen NATO stalls and falters, the failure would discredit American leadership; it would shatter the concept of an expanding Europe; it would demoralize the central, Europeans; and it could reignite currently dormant and dying Russian or German aspirations in Central Europe. For America it would be not only a regional defeat but a global defeat as well. With the Europe of Yalta gone, it is essential that there be no reversion to the Europe of Versailles and Trianon . The end of the division of Europe should not be a step back to a Europe of quarrelsome nationstates but should be a point of departure for an increasingly integrated Europe, reinforced by a widened NATO, and rendered even more secure by a constructive security relationship with the United States . Cafe Budapest The Pannónia American Hungarian Club will hold the 45th annual Hungarian spring ball, the CAFE BUDAPEST. This traditional event will take place on February 28, 1998 at Longshore Inn in Westport. The opening of the ball will be followed by the presentation of the years Debutantes. The music will be divided between the csárdás loving generation and the upcoming youth. The dinner dance has been one of the center points of our Hungarian community life for decades. Special entertaimnent is included, like last year the performance of the Palotas dance. The raffle prizes, as the MALÉV airline ticket to Hungary, ad to the evening’s excitement. This coming event will also have a case of Bodvin Hungarian wine, and a beautiful oil painting by the renowned Hungarian artist, István Varga. A picture of the painting is shown above. Since the CAFE BUDAPEST is a fonnál event, it is necessary to obtain an invitation in due time. Please call Sara Matolcsy 268-7369. Page 2 UPCOMING € VC NTS UPCOMING CVCNTS JAN. 24. SATURDAY evening at the Calvin United Church of Christ, starting at 6:00 PM they are serving GULYAS, both beef and venison. Don’t miss out on this annual Hungarian treat. There is ample parking next to the church or in back of the Calvin Hall. FEB. 20 & 21. FRIDAY and SATURDAY the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra will be featuring the Okros Folk Music Ensemble with Sándor Fodor (Neti) on violin and Kalman Balogh on cimbalom. The music pieces selected are Hary Janos Suite by Zoltán Kodály, Brahms: Hungarian Dances, and pieces of Bela Bartók and György Ligeti. FEB. 28, SATURDAY the annual debutant ball. Details in the left column. MARCH 15. SUNDAY the Pannónia Club is organizing a patriotic program and dinner If you have a child who would like to perform call the Hungarian School, Rev. Bela Poznan at 259-6392. The same day at the Kossuth Monument in New York there will be a celebration of the 150th anniversary of 1848. Buses will be organized. Details in the next issue. MARCH 21. SATURDAY afternoon the annual Hungarian Music Theater at Tomlinson School in Fairfield will take place. Solo singers of the Budapest Operetta will be performing. 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