The definition of Russian reciprocity.

Contrary to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s revisionist history lesson (America Must Choose Between Georgia and Russia, Aug. 20), it is NATO and the West that continue to make friendly, yet unreciprocated, overtures towards Russia.

Examples include the admission of Russia into the G-8, an offer of NATO assistance to rescue Russian sailors trapped on the sunken submarine Kursk, and even a 2002 decision to give Russia a vote in NATO for setting counter-terrorism and peacekeeping policies.

For its efforts, the West received a Russian regime that reverted to Gulag-era totalitarianism.

Nonetheless, this year the Bush administration repeated its invitation for Russia to become a partner in a European missile shield designed to defend itself from rogue states with ballistic missile capability. Yet, Lavrov and his Russian apologists claim that the Kremlin is threatened by this.

The retort is bad caviar. Were Russia truly a benign, reformist, democratizing nation then its leaders would feel no threat by the arming of ideologically similar nations.