[Verginius Rufus]

The Eastern European countries which begged for, and mostly received, admission into NATO had been under Soviet and Communist domination for decades (apart from the countries which had been part of Yugoslavia, who had just been under Communist rule, but not Soviet domination). They did not want that to return and hoped that NATO membership would protect them.

It's easy for Ron Paul, a citizen of a superpower, to dismiss the yearning of small countries to be free, independent, and ruled by the government of their own choice rather than one imposed on them from outside.

[Manuel OKelley]

Those small countries should get tough and or band together and keep their freedom instead of enjoying a false freedom created by having a bigger power get it for them.