The NATO summit in Bucharest is Romania's most prestigious gathering of international leaders in its post communist era and marks a new stage in the expansion of the military alliance on the continent of Europe.
It is not the first time it has extended its security umbrella - the alliance has already taken in several former members of the Warsaw Pact. But now NATO wants to continue its bid to shore up European security in the wake of the break-up of Yugoslavia.
Croatia, Albania and the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia will probably be invited to join but they will have to negotiate their own individual memberships which will then have to be ratified by the other 26 members.
For Croatia that is not likely to be a problem as Zagreb has already sent 200 of its soldiers to help in NATO's mission in Afghanistan. But for Albania and Macedonia, things are less certain. For one thing both are considered by some not to have the military capability to contribute to the alliance.
And secondly, Greece - a NATO member since 1952 has threatened to veto Macedonia's membership. Athens and Skopje are at logger heads over the former Yugoslavian republic's name which Greece says implies territorial ambitions.
But the thorniest problem is the possible future membership of Ukraine and Georgia.
Both are already having intensive dialogue with NATO despite Russian opposition and both want approval from all NATO members for their so-called "action plans" to pursue these talks.
But this is unlikely to happen since some NATO members such as Germany and Spain are distrustful of the internal problems of these two states. They claim their people are split over membership with many voters hostile to the alliance, preferring closer ties with Moscow.
On a wider scale, with relations already strained over Kosovo's unilateral independence, Moscow and the West could be heading for a period of intense diplomatic confrontation.
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