Seven eastern European countries are being welcomed into the NATO military alliance in a ceremony seen as marking the formal end of the Cold War, CNN wrote minutes after the flags of the new members were hoisted in the Alliance headquarters in Brussels.

CNN pointed out that the 55-year-old alliance was originally set up by the West to counter the Soviet Union's military might during the Cold War.

CNN's European Political Editor Robin Oakley said the accession of the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania effectively draws a line under that period of history.

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