Political Quotes

“I, too, was impressed by our subsequent visit to Bulgaria for the reasons that the gentleman from Nebraska mentioned. Their ability to help unite our allies and work with both Greece and Turkey and the stabilizing force that they do establish in the Balkans and the ethnic diversity was very striking. Just walking down the main streets, to see the different places of worship really standing right next to each other in that part of the world, that is not happening as much as it should. I was struck with one of our luncheons when it was asked, well, how come, Congressman Shimkus, House Concurrent Resolution 116 specifically talks to the Baltic nations and not all the rest of the applicants? It was a fair question. My response was there is a different attitude of Russia to the other applicants for admission than to the Baltic area. This is not to exclude the other applicants or to place them in competition with each other, but this is to say to our friends in Russia that they are treating them differently. We do not want them to be treated differently. They have no veto authority. Our appeal is that the President, in the next day or so, continues to make the case of the open door policy, which the whole parliamentary association reconfirmed that no one has a veto, and that geography is not going to be a determining factor.”