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Statement by Senator Bob Dole on NATO Expansion

October 22, 1996

Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole today made the following statement on NATO expansion:

"The Clinton Administration has been dragging its heels on expanding NATO. It's time for this foot dragging to stop.

"The time to begin expansion for Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic is now. As I declared in Philadelphia last June, we should set a firm deadline of 1998 for the expansion of NATO to include these countries. This must be viewed as the beginning of the process, not the end.

"NATO is a defensive alliance which threatens no one. The cries of extreme Russian nationalists to the contrary notwithstanding, NATO's mission is peace. The framework of peace must include assurances to the Baltic States and the Ukraine. This is particularly important given the ongoing instability in Russia.

Robert Dole, Statement by Senator Bob Dole on NATO Expansion Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/315716

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