How the US Betrayed Russia

by

       George Sontag


      At the end of the Soviet Union, Soviet leaders preferred that U.S. forces remain in Europe and NATO stay intact, an arrangement they thought would keep a reunified Germany pacified. They and their Russian successors did not want NATO to grow any larger and assumed that Western diplomats understood their concerns. The United States gave assurances to Russia, who with good reason has a long history of invasion paranoia, that they would not march their NATO alliance towards their borders.  They lied! It was not a" little white lie." It was an understanding that the US had no intentions of honoring. They could not lose their "best" enemy just because they gave up Communism. There is no profit in that. So, against all the promises that were given during the time the Clinton administration began pushing for NATO to expand. The plan was to deny that there was a plan and continue the expansion of NATO towards the east so that Russia slowly would become encircled. 

      Beginning in 1999 missiles were stationed in Poland and Czech Republic...the Russians complained that it reduced its county's security, but the Western side was not interested in hearing that. They lied, saying that "those missiles are not targeting Russia." That brought a response from the Russian foreign minister, 'If we install rockets in Mexico, would you trust us if we say it's against Colombia or Cuba, and has nothing to do with the USA?'

     In  2004 NATO expanded further into Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Moscow complained bitterly from the start that when NATO comes right up to the Russian Federation’s borders. ... "The flame of war could burst out across the whole of Europe.” The US replied that they were there to help "defend" Russia against the Iranian threat. Moscow knew this was another lie but since none of the new members shared a border with Russia, save for the tiny Baltic countries, it did not look so threatening.

      Then NATO began looking further east. In a April 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest, the alliance considered admitting Georgia and Ukraine. France and Germany opposed the move for fear that it would unduly antagonize Russia. In the end, NATO’s members reached a compromise: the alliance did not begin the formal process leading to membership, but it issued a statement endorsing the aspirations of Georgia and Ukraine and boldly declaring, “These countries will become members of NATO.” Moscow was not amused.  Russia’s deputy foreign minister, said, “Georgia’s and Ukraine’s membership in the alliance is a huge strategic mistake which would have most serious consequences for pan-European security.” Putin maintained that admitting those two countries to NATO would represent a “direct threat” to Russia. Ignoring the obvious march towards  another world war NATO expansion continued marching forward, with Albania and Croatia becoming members in 2009.

     Under the guise of the EU,  the western alliance continued to undermine Russia in it's own backyard. In May 2008, it unveiled its Eastern Partnership initiative, a program to foster prosperity in such countries as Ukraine and integrate them into the EU economy. Not surprisingly, Russian leaders view the plan as hostile to their country’s interests. The West’s policies of NATO enlargement, EU expansion, and democracy promotion has added fuel to a fire waiting to ignite.

      All of this provacation, led by the US, has forced Moscow to review its military doctrine, a move that is caused by expansion of NATO in Eastern Europe, problems of missile defense and the crisis situation in neighboring Ukraine.“I have no doubts that the issue of drawing of military infrastructure of NATO member-countries to the borders of our country, including via enlargement, will remain one of the external military threats for the Russian Federation. The USA wants to strengthen its troops in Baltic States. [They] have already decided to transfer its heavy weapons and military equipment, including tanks and armored infantry vehicles, to Estonia. And all this next to Russia’s border.” Mikhail Popov, deputy secretary of the Security Council.

      On September 4th  more than 20,000 activists from around the world descended on Wales to protest against September’s NATO Summit. Police say they have drafted in 9,000 officers to face the protesters in one of the UK’s biggest ever police operations. Protestors rightfully were inscensed at the fact that the United States has stopped being a guarantor of international security and is only forcefully imposing its own interests and values upon other nations, seemingly for profit. Points made were:

• “Many of us are increasingly worried by the threat that NATO poses to world stability and peaceful relations,” said the organizers.

• “Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has reinvented itself supposedly as a tool of the ‘international community’ to safeguard ‘freedom and security’.

• “In reality it is a vehicle for US-led use of force in the interests of the rich and powerful, accelerating militarization, bypassing the United Nations and the system of international law, and escalating spending on arms,” they added.

      Is it any wonder that Russian fighters and bombers are at the edge of our airspace this very day?  The answer is no considering that the West had been moving steadily into Russia’s backyard and threatening its core strategic interests, a point Putin made emphatically and repeatedly. With the end of the Cuban Missle Crisis, President Kennedy made a deal with Moscow, "You stay out of our backyard and we'll stay out of yours." The US has betrayed that deal.