To the Point

Turkey and the European Union

This week in Copenhagen, the European Union will admit 10 new members, including Poland and 7 other former Communist states. The timing of Turkey-s application for entry is also on the agenda. Turkey-s desire to be part of the UE has been described as a -national obsession.- Though some Europeans are dragging their heels, complaining that the country is too poor, too big, and not Christian, the Bush administration, motivated by timely geo-politics, wants to accelerate the membership process. We look at Turkey-s prospects at this week-s EU summit, and the potential impact on President Bush-s planning for war on Iraq, with a Los Angeles Times- correspondent at the State Department, political scientists in France and Turkey, a former Defense Department official from the Reagan White House, and EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana. Newsmaker: North Korea Reopens Nuclear Plant North Korea says it will reactivate a nuclear plant that the US suspected was being used to develop nuclear weapons. The White House has called the reactivation -regrettable.- Joel Wit was State Department coordinator of the Agreed Framework that idled the plant in 1994. Wit relates Korea-s action to the US suspension of fuel oil shipments and voices concern that it will aggravate already escalating tensions in the region. Reporter-s Notebook: Havana Builds a Shrine to Detroit While Cuba-s Fidel Castro has denounced most things American, he notably has excluded both baseball and cars. In fact, his government is establishing an entire museum dedicated to that most potent symbol of American capitalism, the private automobile. The New York Times- Mark Stein has more on the makeshift museum that features some 30 cars, some with a celebrity connection.