After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, depriving NATO of its original reason for being, skeptics of the alliance included [[liberal]]s as much as [[conservative]]s. In 1998, 10 Democratic Senators joined nine Republicans in opposing the first, fateful round of NATO enlargement, which would soon extend the alliance to Russia’s border.
+
+
Among the dissenters was Senator [[Paul Wellstone]] of Minnesota. In between voting against the first Iraq war in 1991 and the second after Sept. 11, Sen. Wellstone warned that expanding NATO would jeopardize Europe’s hard-won gains. “There is peace between states in Europe, between nations in Europe, for the first time in centuries,” he said. “We do not have a divided Europe, and I worry about a NATO expansion which could redivide Europe and again poison relations with Russia.”<ref>https://quincyinst.org/2021/06/14/sorry-liberals-but-you-really-shouldnt-love-nato/</ref>