Introduction In my essay I will discuss the objections to and advantages of NATO-membership for Central and Eastern European countries. First, I will give you a short historical profile of the post cold-war era. In 1990 the Cold War officially ended. The two military alliances: NATO and the Warsaw Pact signed a treaty that stated they were no longer each others enemies and that they will advocate peace and stability in Europe and the world. One year later, the Warsaw Pact collapsed. This left a 'vacuum', east of the NATO border. The natural reaction in the East was to ask for admission to NATO. Admissi