51.   Russia has feared and opposed any expansion of the Western military alliance ever since the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern and Central Europe.

52.   Russian volunteers interviewed last week said that by helping Yugoslavia fight off NATO, they would be defending Russia from further advances by the Western alliance.

53.   Russians already are concerned about prospects for NATO expansion in Europe and are wary of ceding any more power to the western alliance.

54.   Russia is wary of an eastward expansion of the Western military alliance into nations that were Soviet satellites in the Cold War.

55.   Russia has long favored strengthening the OSCE as a sort of civilian analog to NATO, the Western military alliance built to stand sentry against the former Soviet Union.

56.   Some say it risks isolating Russia or weakening and diluting the Western alliance.

57.   That move was possible because the military machine to back it up was already in place once the Western alliance defeated Iraq.

58.   That makes it highly vulnerable to the technological superiority of the Western alliance.

59.   That is the challenge to the Western alliance.

60.   The answers may well come out more strongly in favor of the western alliance than present recriminations suggest.