Bush Welcoming Seven New NATO Members

WASHINGTON -- Russia may be quietly concerned about NATO's expanding girth, but the United States is not as President Bush welcomes seven former Soviet-dominated nations joining the 55-year-old alliance.

Bush presides Monday at a White House ceremony to greet the prime ministers of the new member nations along with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

With the addition of Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, NATO's membership grows from 19 countries to 26. The new members will take part in their first meeting Friday in Brussels. Three other nations -- Albania, Croatia and Macedonia -- hope to join.

NATO has agreed to include the Baltic states under its air defense shield, planning to enforce it by stationing four F-16 fighter planes in Lithuania.

De Hoop Scheffer told reporters at a breakfast interview Monday that fighter planes would begin "air policing" over the Baltic states at the moment their NATO membership takes effect Monday, and that he explained the policy to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov two weeks ago.

"I think that the Russian Federation has very well understood that NATO has, of course, no ulterior motives by air-policing its airspace," de Hoop Scheffer said, adding that NATO has a solid relationship with Russia. "I think that NATO and Russia will further build on this partnership."

Some new members, such as Romania and Bulgaria, have military bases and training ranges that the United States would like to use, or have access to, in times of crisis. Their presence could mean a decided shift in NATO's decision-making processes, particularly within the governing councils, said Marine Gen. James Jones, the supreme allied commander in Europe.

"It will be a different organization," Jones told reporters Friday. "The eastern European influence will change the voting demographics; they'll bring different views."

Russia has cast a wary eye toward the expansion of NATO, which was established during the Cold War to shield the United States, Canada and 10 European countries from various threats, including the Soviet Union's military might.

U.S. officials have minimized worries that NATO expansion could cause tensions with Russia, but President Vladimir Putin's government has warned that Moscow intends to take steps to defend itself should it perceive NATO's eastward push as a threat.

Russia is not a member of NATO but has accepted an invitation to participate in talks at NATO's headquarters in Brussels on Friday.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, who plans to attend that meeting, said in a speech last week that Russia should not view this bigger NATO as a threat, but as a partner against the ill-defined threats that jeopardize global security.

"Whatever NATO members today may lack by way of identical definitions of threats, we do more than make up for that through a mature recognition that we share the same vision of a good society and of a better world," Powell said. "We shouldn't let the inevitable stress of dealing with change mislead us or deter us. Our partnerships are growing stronger as they adapt to new realities."

I wish my grandfathers were alive to see what were once Estonia, Latvia Lithuania Soviet Socialist Republics now be the Republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and full members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Unfortuntely, I think NATO's days are numbered. Many of the newer members are in the process of joining the EU. Once that happens, America and Canada will effectively be the odd men out as they would be the only NATO members not in the EU. The unified European economy would be based on the EU and the euro, while the unified European defense and foreign policy would be based on NATO. The two would merge (leaving America and Canada out) into an organized European government. For better or for worse, Europe will be more united than it has since the days of the Caesars.

Wow, former countries under the brutal boot of the USSR are now free and a part of NATO. How would have thought 45 years ago?

Another notch in President Bush's presidential belt.

How many men will have their history say that he had the vision and fortitude to liberate 50 Million oppressed people within three years of his tenure in the Oval Office?

How many men will be able to say that he encouraged the formation of democracy in Middle Eastern countries run by dictators and fanatical mullahs and helped inspire the creation of Constitutions that protect inalienable God given rights to the people?

How many men will be considered by future generations great because he stood tall against all odds to defend our nation against her enemies regardless of the political price?

Today President Bush is being condemned and spat upon by the democrat political party leaders and apparently 96% of the media for taking the bold stand to cut off all appeasement time wasting Euro chicken livered diplomacy with our enemies, and actually doing more than flipping off a few missilles into meaningless targets like the former president was fond of doing.

I remember well when Bush said when he fires off a missille at bin Laden's scummy camp headquarters we're gonna hit more than a camel's butt!

Well, truth is, he sure as heck hasn't hit one camel's butt but America's proud and courageous Troops under President Bush's stalwart leadership have relentlessly kicked terrorist butt straight into the burning jaws of hell.

Eat your jealous hearts out democrats, President Bush delivers coupe d'etat on terrorist scum maggots.

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