I said the Eastern countries had the right to align their defense strategy to NATO's policy and values, even if for joining they had to meet certain requirement

I said the Eastern countries had the right to align their defense strategy to NATO's policy and values, even if for joining they had to meet certain requirements. But the decision to apply or not was theirs and other NATO members welcomed them exactly because that was conforming to NATOs values and principles. Most tellingly, these were countries that were in a similar treaty before with Russia - the Warsaw Pact. The one that crushed the Prague Spring. They knew exactly what the difference between the two treaties were.