Political Quotes

“I would like to thank Armed Services Chairman Thornberry and Ranking Member Smith for their support of my amendment to direct the Secretary of Defense to report on military cooperation between Serbia and Russia. I would also like to thank the gentleman from Alabama, Mr. Aderholt, for cosponsoring the amendment. Countries of the Balkans are a part of Europe. Period. From the former Yugoslavia, three have already entered NATO and two are now part of the European Union. In the wider Balkans, even more countries have joined NATO and the EU and others want to be part of both . . . . all, except for Serbia, that is, which is unwilling to put itself on a path to future NATO membership. Frankly, Serbia is not only keeping NATO at arms' length. As we speak, it is continuing to rearm with Russian weapons. In a deal reached on December 21 of last year, Russia agreed to give Serbia six surplus MiG-29 `Fulcrum' fighter aircraft, 30 T-72 tanks, and 30 BRDM-2 armored reconnaissance vehicles. Rather than forcing Belgrade to pay for these items worth more than $600 million on the open market, the Kremlin just gave them to Belgrade. And, now Serbia is seeking Russian- made S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. If I were sitting in one of Serbia's neighbors, most of which are NATO members, I don't think I would be comfortable with Belgrade's tilt toward Moscow.…”