Vaclav Havel, Lech Walesa, and a long list of other former leaders of Eastern European states have penned an open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama expressing their fears over what kinds of sacrifices to their sovereignty might come along with Washington's effort to improve relations with Russia.  Full text of the letter below from Gazeta Wyborcza, news coverage from Associated Press and Reuters.

An Open Letter to the Obama Administration from Central and Eastern Europe

by Valdas Adamkus, Martin Butora, Emil Constantinescu, Pavol Demes, Lubos Dobrovsky, Matyas Eorsi, Istvan Gyarmati, Vaclav Havel, Rastislav Kacer, Sandra Kalniete, Karel Schwarzenberg, Michal Kovac, Ivan Krastev, Alexander Kwasniewski, Mart Laar, Kadri Liik, Janos Martonyi. Janusz Onyszkiewicz, Adam Rotfeld, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Alexandr Vondra, Lech Walesa.

We have written this letter because, as Central and Eastern European (CEE) intellectuals and former policymakers,

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We often hear from U.S. observers all about the mutual interests that Washington and the Kremlin share in curbing Iran's march toward nuclear proliferation and other indications of growing hostility, yet it's funny how we usually see nothing but obstruction.  We've speculated in the past that Russia benefits most from preserving the status quo, and want to maintain their swing position.  This opinion from David Kramer is also interesting:  for one, Russia may indeed be interested in seeing U.S. diplomacy succeed in Iran (indeed they are more directly threatened), but they want to see other countries do the heavy lifting.  Secondly, they just don't have all that much influence over Tehran.  From Voice of America:But other analysts, including David Kramer, a former senior U.S. State Department official in the Bush administration (now with the German Marshall Fund ...

In her much-ballyhooed speech before the German Marshall Fund, Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice suggests that maybe Russia shouldn't be quite so proud that Nicaragua and Hamas figure among their only supporters...

The Washington Post is reporting on some early leaked quotes from a speech being given write now as I type this at the German Marshall Fund from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. It appears the State Dept. is showing its willingness to step up the criticism. "The United States and Europe must stand up to this kind of behavior, and all who champion it," Rice says, according to the excerpts. "For our sake -- and for the sake of Russia's people, who deserve a better relationship with the rest of the world -- the United States and Europe must not allow Russia's aggression to achieve any benefit. Not in Georgia -- not anywhere." She mocks the scant international support that Russia has received, saying, "A pat on the back from [Nicaraguan President] Daniel Ortega and Hamas is hardly a diplomatic triumph." And she dismisses the impact of dispatching "a few ...