The National Interest: This is what Russia really wants
Some attendees expressed skepticism about Migranyan's reading of events, and particularly on the situation in the Baltic States. Dov S. Zakheim, a former senior official in the Bush administration and vice chairman of CFTNI, said, "I'm a little puzzled...I wasn't the greatest fan of NATO expansion when this first started, but when I listen to you talking about the great threat from the Estonians, or from the Latvians, or from the Lithuanians, it's the mouse that roared." Migranyan responded by saying that membership in NATO was prompting such countries to engage in needlessly provocative--and even outright "ugly"-- behavior toward Russia. "Don't bark [at] a big bear," he said. "It's dangerous."