Ukrainian soldiers inspected debris of a shot-down aircraft in Kiev on Feb. 25
"Throughout the post-Cold War era, NATO expansion will be the deadliest mistake in U.S. policy," george Kennan, a former American diplomat known as the "father of containment," said 25 years ago. In response to Russia's recent military operations against Ukraine, many American scholars and experts have invariably quoted this heavyweight as saying that if the US government had listened to "wise" advice after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, today's world would not be at such a dangerous crossroads.
Robert Bridge, an American writer and journalist who wrote "Midnight of the American Empire," recently wrote on Russia Today (RT) titled "Why Doesn't the United States Listen to The Proposals of Its Most Important Russian Expert of the 20th Century on NATO Expansion?" Kennan is arguably America's most prominent diplomat and historian, and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger praised him for displaying his "diplomatic talent of his time."
Bridge published a related article on the "Russia Today" website
Bridge quoted Churchill as saying, "Americans will always do the right thing, but only after all other possibilities have been exhausted." "This British humor hits the heart of the current crisis in Ukraine. On the question of expansion against Russia, if the West heeded Kennan's advice, the world today might become more peaceful and predictable, "the tragedy of our time is that these views have been ignored."
George Kennan was the architect of America's successful policy of containing the Soviet Union and the "Soviet UnionIst." In 1946, Kennan, as chargé d'affaires a.i. of the U.S. Embassy in the Soviet Union, sent a famous 8,000-word "long telegram," in which the theories expounded had a major impact on the establishment and implementation of the U.S. government's strategy and policy toward the Soviet Union after World War II, and provided a theoretical basis for Trumanism.
Famous former American diplomat Kennan
However, within the corridors of American power, the more hawkish Dean Acheson replaced the sick George Marshall as secretary of state in 1949, and Kennan's theory of containment was seen as "moderate" and obsolete. As a result, after losing influence over the Truman administration, Kennan turned to teach at the Institute for Advanced Study until his death in 2005.
Although not working at the U.S. State Department anymore, it doesn't mean Kennan stops out predator feathers. Kennan sounded the alarm in 1997 as the U.S. government struggled to enlist Central and Eastern European countries in NATO, especially those that once formed the core of the Warsaw Pact during the Soviet era.
At the age of 93, he published an article in the New York Times on February 5, 1997, saying that NATO's continued expansion toward Russia "will be the most fatal mistake in U.S. policy."
Kennan wrote: "To put it bluntly, expanding NATO would be the most fatal mistake in U.S. policy in the entire post-Cold War era." The Russians will not believe the claim that there is no hostile intent against the United States. They will see their prestige and security interests negatively affected, which is seen by the Russians as a top priority. Of course, they have no choice but to accept expansion as a fait accompli, but will continue to see it as a resistance to the West and may seek to provide themselves with security and assurance elsewhere. ”
In fact, Kennan's warnings were ignored. On March 12, 1999, then-U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright officially welcomed Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic to NATO. Since 1949, NATO has grown from an initial 12 member states to 30, five of which border Russia – Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania and Norway.
Thomas L. Friedman, a well-known American expert on international issues and author of "The World is Flat," also published an article in the New York Times (NYT) titled "The United States and NATO Are Not Innocent in This Ukraine Crisis." Friedman believes that it was the major decision-making mistakes of the United States in the "NATO Eastward Expansion" that led to the deterioration of relations with Russia, so the US government should bear considerable responsibility in the early days.
Friedman published an article in The New York Times
Friedman also mentions Kennan. He recalled calling Kennan on May 2, 1998, shortly after the U.S. Senate approved NATO expansion. Kennan said at the time: "I think this is the beginning of a new Cold War. The Russians will gradually react rather negatively, which will affect their policies. NATO expansion was a tragic mistake. There is no reason for this. No one is posing a threat to anyone else. Friedman wrote that when he felt humiliated by the West after the collapse of the Soviet Union and nato expansion, Putin's response was: "I will show you, and I will beat ukraine hard." ”
Bridge also believes that as NATO continues to expand eastward, Russia certainly will not feel more secure. Fifteen years ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin told delegates at the Munich Security Conference: "I think it is clear that the expansion of NATO has nothing to do with the modernization of the alliance itself or the security of Europe." On the contrary, it represents a serious provocation and reduces the level of mutual trust. We have the right to ask: Who is this expansion directed at? ”
What the West must understand is that Russia is no longer the same country it was 20 years ago. It has the ability to address perceived threats on its territory, diplomatically or otherwise. Some even argue that Russia took inspiration from NATO's "reckless" expansion in Europe: the creation of military alliances in South America and the Caribbean. Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Mr. Putin had talked with the leaders of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua to strengthen cooperation in a range of areas, including the military.
Bridge argues that over time, it has become increasingly apparent that if Kennan's more realistic vision of regional cooperation had been embraced by the United States and Europe, today's world would not be at such a dangerous crossroads.
Nandu reporter Shi Minglei