4 ms·

We are also dealing today with blowback from the perceived claim that "Not One Inch" [1] of NATO expansion to the East could be expected as Western policy. The

We are also dealing today with blowback from the perceived claim that "Not One Inch" [1] of NATO expansion to the East could be expected as Western policy. The Partnership for Peace program may have started off in the right direction, but, as the military hawks took policy control like good generals the only thing they actually cared about was "securing the nukes". And expanding NATO to the East. Ps I worked with a guy who was in Russia for IBM in those days and he said they needed armed guards and dummy trucks to deliver a Mainframe. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/57615585-not-one-inch https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/57615585-not-one-inch

hetman 4y ago
Ah the old "there's only two sovereign nations, USA and Russia, and everyone in between are just puppets" line of thought that seems so entrenched in the Russian Federation, presumably because the Soviets could not conceive the common people of any country wanting anything without being agitated through propaganda (after all, when you have near total control over the media, independent thought does seem like an aberration). What people who complain about NATO expansion seem to forget is that the countries being "expanded into" still have living memory, within one generation, of Soviet tanks rolling through their streets to put down any attempts at independence in governance. There was Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland... the US didn't coërce these countries to join NATO, these countries were practically begging to be included. Then the Russian Federation made the demand at the beginning of 2022 for NATO to remove its troops and equipment from Central/Eastern Europe as if they ruled over those nations. The gall to think to dictate the international military security policy for a population totalling twice the size of their own is astounding.
- leosarev 4y ago
  Please remember that a Cuba is sovereign nation, but USA were willing to go to the nuclear war to have Soviet troops and equipment removed. But the way, USA still occupies part of Cuban soil against will of Cuban people, doesn't they?
  - hetman 4y ago
    Suggesting the US wanted to go to nuclear war is a rather colourful reimagining of the whole Cuban missile crisis. In fact the crisis demonstrated the complete opposite, that neither side wanted full out nuclear war. Both the USSR removed their nuclear warheads from Cuba and the US removed theirs from Turkey and Italy as concessions. Soviet military presence didn't end in Cuba nor did US military presence end in Turkey and Italy.
- fit2rule 4y ago

hetman 4y ago

Ah the old "there's only two sovereign nations, USA and Russia, and everyone in between are just puppets" line of thought that seems so entrenched in the Russian Federation, presumably because the Soviets could not conceive the common people of any country wanting anything without being agitated through propaganda (after all, when you have near total control over the media, independent thought does seem like an aberration). What people who complain about NATO expansion seem to forget is that the countries being "expanded into" still have living memory, within one generation, of Soviet tanks rolling through their streets to put down any attempts at independence in governance. There was Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland... the US didn't coërce these countries to join NATO, these countries were practically begging to be included. Then the Russian Federation made the demand at the beginning of 2022 for NATO to remove its troops and equipment from Central/Eastern Europe as if they ruled over those nations. The gall to think to dictate the international military security policy for a population totalling twice the size of their own is astounding.

leosarev 4y ago
Please remember that a Cuba is sovereign nation, but USA were willing to go to the nuclear war to have Soviet troops and equipment removed. But the way, USA still occupies part of Cuban soil against will of Cuban people, doesn't they?
- hetman 4y ago
  Suggesting the US wanted to go to nuclear war is a rather colourful reimagining of the whole Cuban missile crisis. In fact the crisis demonstrated the complete opposite, that neither side wanted full out nuclear war. Both the USSR removed their nuclear warheads from Cuba and the US removed theirs from Turkey and Italy as concessions. Soviet military presence didn't end in Cuba nor did US military presence end in Turkey and Italy.
fit2rule 4y ago