On the recordJanuary 27, 1994
NATO was to give Europe stability. The great threat to the world now, and the great threat in Europe, is instability. And one of the threats--let us be candid--right now is what is going to happen to Russia, in Russia. Our friends in Poland and the Czech Republic and the Baltic Republics and Hungary and some of the other countries, they are concerned. I think one of the great ways we can lend stability to that area is to include these countries gradually into NATO. It is not going to happen tomorrow. And the President has made steps in that direction and I hope we can make more and I hope we can make them fairly rapidly. I think it is extremely important that we do that. Then, if Russia establishes a good, solid democracy, there is no reason Russia cannot be part of NATO.
