Political Quotes

“approximately ten days ago, the Senate voted to ratify the accession of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic into the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance. I joined 79 of my colleagues in supporting this historic measure. This vote occurred at the end of a week of debate in the Senate on this matter. But it signaled the beginning of an equally important process--that of redoubling or diplomatic efforts to build greater trust and cooperation with Russia. Many who argued against expanding the alliance did so on the assumption that such expansion would sour our relations with Russia and reduce the chances for progress in arms control. I believe that the consequences of expanding NATO are still undetermined, and that those consequences will depend largely on how we conduct our relations with Russia in the coming years. Russia currently has 6,680 strategic nuclear warheads, thousands of tactical warheads, and hundreds of tons of fissile material that could be used to produce additional nuclear warheads. Ensuring that these weapons are properly controlled and further reductions in strategic warheads are made is one of the principal national security interests of the United States. This is why it is critical that we take greater steps to reach out to Russia and demonstrate our desire to work with them in a cooperative fashion.”