IHT:Despite calls from some U.S. officials - notably Vice President Dick Cheney - to get tough with Russia, European leaders and diplomats, attached a

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Europe taking a diplomatic approach to Caucasus conflict - Katrin Bennhold

Despite calls from some U.S. officials - notably Vice President Dick Cheney - to get tough with Russia, European leaders and diplomats, attached and accustomed to the exercise of soft power, are trying for a cease-fire. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, which currently presides over the European Union, is to meet President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia in Moscow as early as Tuesday. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany will follow suit later this week in long-scheduled meetings with Medvedev and, more important, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.German and French diplomats said that the past few days had made any rapid Georgian accession to NATO less, not more, likely. "In evaluating a country's fitness to join NATO, the strategic environment matters," said one senior diplomat. "NATO's mission is more security for all. If we have a policy that leads to less security for Georgia and the rest of the alliance, we are not fulfilling that mission."

Note EU-Digest: This is the best approach for the EU in dealing with the conflict. Russia is potentially a far more important ally for Europe than the US and more importantly they are also part of the European continent and culture. Like General Charles de Gaulle once said that he was dreaming of a Europe which stretched from the Atlantic to the Ural Mountains. That is where Europe's future is not in the US"