Many German papers on Wednesday questioned whether enlargement eastwards would really do anything to enhance security.
US President George W. Bush seems determined to put pressure on his European allies to welcome Ukraine and Georgia into the NATO alliance, despite reluctance in Paris and Berlin to unnecessarily provoke Russia with such a move.

In his keynote speech delivered hours before the 26-nation alliance meets in Bucharest on Wednesday, he said [...] "NATO membership must remain open to all of Europe's democracies that seek it, and are ready to share the responsibilities of NATO membership."

However, Moscow has made it clear that it will view any enlargement of NATO to its borders as a threat. Russia is particularly sensitive to any further loss of influence in the states it used to control.

spiegel.de

too bad the Citizens of the USA were not able to thwart Bush's plans

And Russia warms the lounges of Germany so would be mad to incur the wrath of Russia who have shown they will use the gas as a weapon.

Say, you were right, tabs - an absolutely two-edged sword, the Russians' potential denial of gas, isn't it? Germany is Russia's most important trade partner (especially finished industrial goods for crude oil and natural gas; mutual trade volume in 2005: 35,000,000,000 €).
There is some indication that trade interests found peacekeeping foreign politics (admittedly, sometimes trade interests found warmongering politics as well; that depends on whether a gang of scoundrels is leading a country, you know...).
As a German who owns a sufficient number of knitted pullovers and doesn't warm his lounge by burning gas, I want the finally peaceful partnership with the Russian people to be maintained diligently.