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Article: Eastern cheers, Russian jeers, American silence. (expansion of membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
- Article from:
- Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
- Article date:
- January 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Any passerby on the streets of Warsaw, Bratislava, Vilnius, or Bucharest could probably, if asked, explain the arguments, pro and con, for his country joining NATO. In Eastern Europe, the question of NATO expansion is a matter of passionate debate: NATO membership makes headlines. It is the subject of magazine articles and a perennial topic for local politicians. Russians say the issue is so vital to them that the fate of arms reduction agreements and their very relationship with the West are tied to it.
On the other hand, if you ask an American in Washington, Seattle, or Atlanta about NATO expansion, you will probably hear the same kind of response a friend of ...