Word: nato
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Pentagon instead pushed a plan called Partnership for Peace, which allowed East European nations to join in NATO military exercises but not be full members. Finally, in September 1994, senior Defense officials gathered in Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke's office for what turned into a shouting match. "The President has made the decision, and you're being insubordinate!" Holbrooke accused them. The Pentagon eventually fell into line...
Ethnic lobbying groups such as the Polish American Congress had already begun flooding the White House and Capitol Hill with telegrams demanding that NATO enlarge. Bob Dole and the House Republican Contract with America backed expansion. But White House polls during the 1996 campaign showed that enlargement wasn't a litmus test for the 21 million Americans of East European descent. The poll Clinton paid more attention to showed that foreign policy successes improved his re-election chances. "The idea that Reagan brought down the Berlin Wall, Bush unified Germany, and Clinton will unite Europe sounded good at 1600 Pennsylvania...
This week's NATO summit in Madrid is a defining moment for the transatlantic community on the eve of the 21st century. The alliance that played such a key role in keeping the peace for the past 48 years will open its doors to former adversaries. Some will be invited to join as full members soon; others will be encouraged to do so later; and representatives of all the emerging democracies in what used to make up the Soviet bloc will intensify their cooperation with NATO on a range of common concerns, from arms control to regional crisis management...
...admission of former Warsaw Pact member states into NATO represents the organization's response to the end of the cold war and the spread of democracy in Europe. With the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the U.S.S.R., countries that had been captive nations became sovereign, independent states. They have been holding elections, instituting the rule of law, opening their economies and nurturing a free press...
Although old threats have disappeared or receded, new ones have arisen. More Europeans have died violently in the past five years than in the previous 45. The combination of actual and potential dangers requires a robust, capable collective defense pact, and NATO is the best ever...