Political Quotes

Patrick Moynihan: “I wanted to respond to his wonderful, vivid image of an iron ring surrounding Central Europe and facing Russia. Would my…”

On the recordMarch 18, 1998
I wanted to respond to his wonderful, vivid image of an iron ring surrounding Central Europe and facing Russia. Would my friend not agree--and of course, he will agree because it is a fact of geography--that Russian territory will be within that ring? The simple fact that Poland will be in NATO means that Kaliningrad will border NATO though it is cut off from the rest of Russia. It is cut off, in any event, by Lithuania and Belarus, but I don't have to tell the former Secretary of the Navy that, other than Sebastopol in the Black Sea, the main port of what was the navy of the Soviet Union is in Kaliningrad. We may expand NATO beyond that. Surely that cannot but cause anxiety in Russia.
Said by
Patrick Moynihan
Illinois
Source
govinfo.gov

Editor's note · Context

Discussing NATO expansion and its implications for Russia during a Senate debate.

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