http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=3892
by Ron Paul
Ron Paul’s speech before the House of Representatives on US House Resolution 997, “expressing the strong support of the House of Representatives for the http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4189 to enter into a Membership Action Plan with Georgia and Ukraine.”
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this resolution calling for the further http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4020 to the borders of Russia. NATO is an organization whose purpose ended with the end of the Warsaw Pact.
This current round of NATO expansion is a political reward to governments in Georgia and Ukraine that came to power as a result of US-supported revolutions, the so-called Orange Revolution and Rose Revolution. The governments that arose from these street protests were eager to please their US sponsor and the US, in turn, turned a blind eye to the numerous political and human rights abuses that took place under the new regimes. NATO expansion only benefits the US military industrial complex, which stands to profit from expanded arms sales to new NATO members. The “modernization” of former Soviet militaries in Ukraine and Georgia will mean tens of millions in sales to US and European military contractors. The US taxpayer will be left holding the bill, as the US government will subsidize most of the transactions. Providing US military guarantees to Ukraine and Georgia can only further strain our military. This NATO expansion may well involve the US military in conflicts as unrelated to our national interest as the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia. The idea that American troops might be forced to fight and die to prevent a small section of Georgia from seceding is absurd and disturbing.
Mr. Speaker, NATO should be disbanded, not expanded.