Free Republic

In May 1997, NATO and Russia signed the “Founding Act,” which stated, among other things, that “NATO and Russia do not consider each other as adversaries,” and that “in the current and foreseeable security environment,” NATO would not seek “additional permanent stationing of substantial ground combat forces” inside nations close to Russia. Nothing was discussed about the Founding Act at the U.S.-Poland summit, but permanently deploying U.S. troops — especially a division-sized element — on Polish soil would essentially make the agreement moot. Right now, U.S. and NATO troops are regularly deployed on Polish soil, but only on a rotational...

Nearly 30 years ago, the people of Eastern Europe were freed from the yoke of communism. Their liberation is a reminder that the Cold War didn’t just end -- it was won. And it was won because the ideas espoused by leaders such as Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II were far stronger than any army the Soviet Union could ever field. But eternal vigilance, as the saying goes, is the price of liberty. Freedom that is won can, through neglect, become freedom lost. Which is why, since the lifting of the Iron Curtain, America has...