Scott McLarty - The Ukraine crisis could be defused right now if Biden withdrew the "NATO up to Russia's border" provocation. But that would be a concession and today's empires apparently don't do concessions.
Wikileaks: Cable dated 1 Feb. 2008 from Moscow, Russia to Joint Chiefs of Staff, NATO - European Union Cooperative, National Security Council, Russia Moscow Political Collective, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State.
"Not only does Russia perceive encirclement [by NATO], and efforts to undermine Russia's influence in the region, but it also fears unpredictable and uncontrolled consequences which would seriously affect Russian security interests. Experts tell us that Russia is particularly worried that the strong divisions in Ukraine over NATO membership, with much of the ethnic-Russian community against membership, could lead to a major split, involving violence or at worst, civil war. In that eventuality, Russia would have to decide whether to intervene; a decision Russia does not want to have to face. ...
"Dmitriy Trenin, Deputy Director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, expressed concern that Ukraine was, in the long-term, the most potentially destabilizing factor in U.S.-Russian relations, given the level of emotion and neuralgia triggered by its quest for NATO membership... Because membership remained divisive in Ukrainian domestic politics, it created an opening for Russian intervention. Trenin expressed concern that elements within the Russian establishment would be encouraged to meddle, stimulating U.S. overt encouragement of opposing political forces, and leaving the U.S. and Russia in a classic confrontational posture."
2 comments:
I don’t think that’s right. Putin wants to improve his legacy and putting the Soviet Union back together is his plan for doing that. Concern that NATO might invade Russia is just an excuse for him to invade and conquer his neighbors.
Russia has already intervened in the civil war in Ukraine
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