Changes

===NATO expansion: Russia reaction===

===NATO expansion: Russia reaction===

 

NATO expansion since the Clinton era represents a betrayal of the international agreements that ended the Cold War, caused the [[Fall of the Wall]], and collapse of Soviet communism.  Western [[oligarch]]s and [[neo-fascist]] [[globalism|global]] interests have profited immeasurably  from ending the Cold War and betraying security agreements made with the Russian Federation in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

NATO expansion since the Clinton era represents a betrayal of the international agreements that ended the Cold War, caused the [[Fall of the Wall]], and collapse of Soviet communism.  Western [[oligarch]]s and [[neo-fascist]] [[globalism|global]] interests have profited immeasurably  from ending the Cold War and betraying security agreements made with the Russian Federation in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

On Feb. 9, 1990, Baker said: “We consider that the consultations and discussions in the framework of the 2+4 mechanism should give a guarantee that the reunification of Germany will not lead to the enlargement of NATO’s military organization to the East.” On the next day, then German Chancellor [[Helmut Kohl]] said: “We consider that NATO should not enlarge its sphere of activity.”<ref>https://consortiumnews.com/2022/01/28/the-tangled-tale-of-nato-expansion-at-the-heart-of-ukraine-crisis/</ref>  Gorbachev's mistake was not to get it in writing as a legally-binding agreement.<ref>For years it was believed there was no written record of the Baker-Gorbachev exchange at all, until the National Security Archive at George Washington University in December 2017 published a series of memos and cables about these assurances against NATO expansion eastward.</ref>

On Feb. 9, 1990, Baker said: “We consider that the consultations and discussions in the framework of the 2+4 mechanism should give a guarantee that the reunification of Germany will not lead to the enlargement of NATO’s military organization to the East.” On the next day, then German Chancellor [[Helmut Kohl]] said: “We consider that NATO should not enlarge its sphere of activity.”<ref>https://consortiumnews.com/2022/01/28/the-tangled-tale-of-nato-expansion-at-the-heart-of-ukraine-crisis/</ref>  Gorbachev's mistake was not to get it in writing as a legally-binding agreement.<ref>For years it was believed there was no written record of the Baker-Gorbachev exchange at all, until the National Security Archive at George Washington University in December 2017 published a series of memos and cables about these assurances against NATO expansion eastward.</ref>

 

{{quotebox-float|“U.S. Secretary of State James Baker’s famous ‘not one inch eastward’ assurance about NATO expansion in his meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on February 9, 1990, was part of a cascade of assurances about Soviet security given by [[Western]] leaders to Gorbachev and other Soviet officials throughout the process of German unification in 1990 and on into 1991, according to declassified U.S., Soviet, German, British and French documents …

{{quotebox-float|“U.S. Secretary of State James Baker’s famous ‘not one inch eastward’ assurance about NATO expansion in his meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on February 9, 1990, was part of a cascade of assurances about Soviet security given by [[Western]] leaders to Gorbachev and other Soviet officials throughout the process of German unification in 1990 and on into 1991, according to declassified U.S., Soviet, German, British and French documents …

After the Soviet Union collapsed depriving NATO of its original reason for existence, skeptics of the alliance included [[liberal]]s as much as [[conservative]]s.  In 1998, 10 Democratic Senators joined nine Republicans in opposing the first, fateful round of NATO enlargement with [[Hungary]], the [[Czech Republic]], and [[Poland]] added, extending the alliance to Russia's border.  Among the dissenters was Senator [[Paul Wellstone]] of Minnesota.  In between voting against the first Iraq war in 1991 and the second after Sept. 11, Sen. Wellstone warned that expanding NATO would jeopardize Europe's hard-won gains. “There is peace between states in Europe, between nations in Europe, for the first time in centuries,” he said. “We do not have a divided Europe, and I worry about a NATO expansion which could redivide Europe and again poison relations with Russia.”<ref>https://quincyinst.org/2021/06/14/sorry-liberals-but-you-really-shouldnt-love-nato/</ref>

After the Soviet Union collapsed depriving NATO of its original reason for existence, skeptics of the alliance included [[liberal]]s as much as [[conservative]]s.  In 1998, 10 Democratic Senators joined nine Republicans in opposing the first, fateful round of NATO enlargement with [[Hungary]], the [[Czech Republic]], and [[Poland]] added, extending the alliance to Russia's border.  Among the dissenters was Senator [[Paul Wellstone]] of Minnesota.  In between voting against the first Iraq war in 1991 and the second after Sept. 11, Sen. Wellstone warned that expanding NATO would jeopardize Europe's hard-won gains. “There is peace between states in Europe, between nations in Europe, for the first time in centuries,” he said. “We do not have a divided Europe, and I worry about a NATO expansion which could redivide Europe and again poison relations with Russia.”<ref>https://quincyinst.org/2021/06/14/sorry-liberals-but-you-really-shouldnt-love-nato/</ref>

[[Vladimir Putin]] assumed office as the president of Russia on the last day of 1999.  In an interview with David Frost broadcast on the [[BBC]] on March 13, 2000, Putin expressed his desire to see Russia join NATO:<ref>https://www.gazeta.ru/2001/02/28/putin_i_bbc.shtml</ref>

[[Vladimir Putin]] assumed office as the president of Russia on the last day of 1999.  In an interview with David Frost broadcast on the [[BBC]] on March 13, 2000, Putin expressed his desire to see Russia join NATO:<ref>https://www.gazeta.ru/2001/02/28/putin_i_bbc.shtml</ref>

{{quotebox-float|'''Frost: Tell me about your views on NATO, if you would. Do you see NATO as a potential partner, or rival, or an enemy?'''

{{quotebox-float|'''Frost: Tell me about your views on NATO, if you would. Do you see NATO as a potential partner, or rival, or an enemy?'''