Political Quotes

“last week the United States joined with our European allies to invite three nations to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]. Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic are deserving of this invitation. I congratulate them on their achievements and look forward to a strong and lasting relationship with the people of these nations. Today I offer an amendment with my colleague, Senator Durbin, and the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee, Senator McConnell, to ensure that NATO expansion does not stop here. The Madrid summit was only the first step in our efforts to see to it that the nations of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union are brought firmly into democracy's camp. Further expansion of NATO is essential if democratic and economic reforms are to continue and if communism is to be eliminated entirely from the European Continent. My amendment expresses the sense of the Senate that Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania should be invited to join NATO at the earliest possible date. These three tiny nations, perched between the Baltic Sea and the northwestern border of Russia, have made remarkable strides since they gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have all made significant progress toward the NATO requirements of irreversible democracy, free market economies, and civilian-controlled militaries.”