Bill Clinton: I Tried to Put Russia on Another Path - The Atlantic

[erronis]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/04/bill-clinton-nato-expansion-ukraine/629499/

Not sure how much of this will escape the firewall. An interesting read from a first-hand participant.

When I first became president, I said that I would support Russian President Boris Yeltsin in his efforts to build a good economy and a functioning democracy after the dissolution of the Soviet Union—but I would also support an expansion of NATO to include former Warsaw Pact members and post-Soviet states. My policy was to work for the best while preparing for the worst. I was worried not about a Russian return to communism, but about a return to ultranationalism, replacing democracy and cooperation with aspirations to empire, like Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. I didn’t believe Yeltsin would do that, but who knew what would come after him?

If Russia stayed on a path toward democracy and cooperation, we would all be together in meeting the security challenges of our time: terrorism; ethnic, religious, and other tribal conflicts; and the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. If Russia chose to revert to ultranationalist imperialism, an enlarged NATO and a growing European Union would bolster the continent’s security. Near the end of my second term, in 1999, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic joined NATO despite Russian opposition. The alliance gained 11 more members under subsequent administrations, again over Russian objections.

Lately, NATO expansion has been criticized in some quarters for provoking Russia and even laying the groundwork for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The expansion certainly was a consequential decision, one that I continue to believe was correct.

[oldsoftie]

1. Peter the Great and Catherine the Great are who Putin wants to be viewed as.

he wants the Russian Empire back & he wants to be remembered as the next "Great" that did it.
Just as trump wants to be like Putin because he sees unlimited power & the ability to remove any opposition

[FakeNoose]

2. Russia had a short time in the early 90's to go a different way

... but nobody saw the pitfalls, they didn't understand the lurking dangers, and Putin stepped in to take advantage.

[andym]

3. Yeltsin was a real reformer

but his greatest error was to appoint Putin as his successor. The second was not to deal with the rampant corruption.

[dalton99a]

7. +1. Putin did a great job manipulating him and maneuvering himself

[brush]

8. Russia didn't appreciate Gorbechev, blamed him for...

Last edited Thu Apr 7, 2022, 02:53 PM - Edit history (2)

the break up of the Soviet Union. He was an under appreciated reformer who resigned. Too bad.

Yelsin was a reformer too but stepped down also as he felt he'd failed the country. Unfortunately his biggest failing was yielding to Putin.

What is it in the Russian psyche that they won't go the democracy route? It's always the strongman.

[erronis]

10. I also think that Yeltsin was not top of his game - enjoyed the vodka perhaps a bit much.

Altho some other figures in history have done so and kept on their feet - Sir Winston Churchill, for example. He might have been already manipulated by the ex-KGB forces.

[brush]

11. Yes, Yelsin let the booze get the better of him.

[Chainfire]

4. The sudden collapse of the Soviet Union left a vaccuum that was quickly filled

by the most ruthless people in Russia. It may have been inevitable.

In Germany, the Nazis came to power for similar reasons. In Germany it was a vacuum of leadership, pride and a lousy economy. Crooks always have an advantage over honest people, because they are always on the offense and the good people struggle to try to catch up after the fact. Eventually, many of the good people give up and try to go along to get along. It is happening here too. In America it is those 10% nearer the center of the Republican political scale that are our big danger. They should, and may know better, but they are too weak to resist.

[Crunchy Frog]

5. I'm glad to see a counter narrative to the one that's currently out there.

That tries to put the blame for this on NATO.

[Goonch]

6. The Great Troika

[brush]

9. In Putin's dreams.

[Tommy Carcetti]

12. If only Boris Nemtsov had succeeded Yeltsin...

...it's possible there wouldn't even be a need for NATO.

But Putin succeeded Yeltsin instead.

And then Putin murdered Nemtsov.

[andym]

13. Putin has targeted many men and women with great moral courage

Nemtsov won't be the last. At least Navalny still lives.

[Tommy Carcetti]

14. If Navalny survives and Putin falls...

...he'll be considered the next Mandela.