NATO Weal

ON July 8 the leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization met in Madrid to announce that Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic had been invited to begin a process leading to membership in the alliance. Commenting on the decision to enlarge, NATO’s Secretary General, Javier Solana, pronounced these “fantastic times,” a period of “profound transformation” of the “whole security environment of Europe.”

While we expect hyperbole from political leaders, there already is significant evidence that Mr. Solana is not exaggerating: the decision by the Atlantic Alliance to expand is a landmark development in European history. Indeed, the very expectation that NATO would move eastward has contributed to dramatic improvements in the security of Central and Eastern Europe.