Zach Nunn: “I believe having the natural approach of an economic admission to the European Community be one path, one option which…”

“I believe having the natural approach of an economic admission to the European Community be one path, one option which is a natural course and would lead inevitably to NATO eligibility for those countries. That is one course. But the other course ought to be very clear, the military-threat-based course. But where we are now is between those courses. We are saying that the European Community is not going to be able to expand fast enough and saying there is no threat from Russia. And we are saying that Russia can be a member of NATO at some point in time--and that simply does not ring true to people who have observed this process over a period of time from the European perspective, it does not ring very true to those in the Ukraine who worry about Russian reaction and know they will not be the first country, one of the first countries, to be admitted, does not ring true to the Baltics where they know that they can be subverted by Russia on a 48-hour basis. It would take years for Russia to be able to muster the military power to invade Poland, but to destabilize politically the Baltics would take a matter of days. And that may very well be the pattern that could emerge if we are not prudent in how we go about this situation.”