by Patrick J. Buchanan – July 8, 1997

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” is counsel Bill Clinton should have followed before making his frivolous decision to expand NATO into Eastern Europe. For it is clear that NATO expansion is already dividing, and may eventually destroy, the great Western alliance.

Handing out war guarantees to parts of Europe where we have never fought before reflects the substitution of sentimentality for hard thought. There is no vital U.S. interest where we are, right now, being committed to fight. Clinton is treating a military alliance like a country club, which, thanks to his magnanimity, is finally opening its doors to excluded minorities.