It will be undertaken, of course, in the June or July summit, and then to bring NATO closer to Russia or vice versa is a way to move toward integration - toward the integration of Europe.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
We've had some fairly intensive discussions leading up to these meetings between NATO and Russia, preparing for them, and it's going to be a very important six months for NATO.
You know, it's been President Clinton's dream that we'll have finally a fully integrated Europe; and the steps that NATO will take to expand to the East, that's a commitment.
I think before 1997 is over, NATO will have taken giant strides in what's called adaptation, the discussions about bringing the French fully into the NATO forces.
I think there is a good deal of promise in those discussions as well. I think there is a range of matters that might be discussed between NATO and Russia that can provide a mechanism for talking through these issues, a way to give reassurance on these issues.
NATO and the EU have also agreed on permanent arrangements on consultation and cooperation between themselves.
Following the end of the Cold War, there was much discussion concerning the point of NATO. In the event, it was reinvented as a means of reducing Russia's reach on its western frontiers and seeking to isolate it. Its former East European client states were admitted to NATO, as were the Baltic states.
In the long run, Europe will certainly move toward unification. But it will be a process of push and pull, and there will be resistance.
We also have a real opportunity to join NATO.
If we get the capabilities, NATO, along with the European Union, can do amazing things.
So seven new countries, three of them formerly part of the Soviet Union, and the others part of the Warsaw Pact, will become full members of NATO next year.
No opposing quotes found.