Putin is intelligent. How intelligent, not sure. I don’t think he’s the mastermind the world at times has thought of him but he’s not an idiot.
One could argue the USA inflamed tensions in the region by encouraging Baltic states and Eastern Europe to join NATO and the EU. But the thing is, pretty much every country that went that path benefited immensely. Beyond which, countries should enjoy their own self determination.
As an Eastern European I strongly disagree. We were occupied by Russia for decades, and once we gained independence, we dreamed about joining NATO and EU back then. NATO was the only thing that, at the time, we believed would make our independence last more than a few years, and the EU was in our eyes a path to an economic development of our crippled and looted economies. Soviet Union didn’t fall because of a booming economy, quite the opposite. We saw how people live in the western countries by our relatives who managed to escape, and were dreaming of our countries becoming at least partially as good as the Western Europe. USA didn’t have to do much to convince us, Soviets convinced us more than enough that we want out
Not sure what we’re strongly disagreeing about. I certainly don’t think the USA strong armed Eastern European countries into NATO/EU. But the interest was there in eastern europe for all of the reasons you point out, and the USA supported it.
Putin has often complained about the USA/West encroaching on Russia, but while the USA/West has many of its own issues, it marks a step forward. (edit: didn’t finish my thought. Marked a step forward for many eastern european nations. Natural that they’d want to join.)
Putin is intelligent. How intelligent, not sure. I don’t think he’s the mastermind the world at times has thought of him but he’s not an idiot.
One could argue the USA inflamed tensions in the region by encouraging Baltic states and Eastern Europe to join NATO and the EU. But the thing is, pretty much every country that went that path benefited immensely. Beyond which, countries should enjoy their own self determination.
As an Eastern European I strongly disagree. We were occupied by Russia for decades, and once we gained independence, we dreamed about joining NATO and EU back then. NATO was the only thing that, at the time, we believed would make our independence last more than a few years, and the EU was in our eyes a path to an economic development of our crippled and looted economies. Soviet Union didn’t fall because of a booming economy, quite the opposite. We saw how people live in the western countries by our relatives who managed to escape, and were dreaming of our countries becoming at least partially as good as the Western Europe. USA didn’t have to do much to convince us, Soviets convinced us more than enough that we want out
Not sure what we’re strongly disagreeing about. I certainly don’t think the USA strong armed Eastern European countries into NATO/EU. But the interest was there in eastern europe for all of the reasons you point out, and the USA supported it.
Putin has often complained about the USA/West encroaching on Russia, but while the USA/West has many of its own issues, it marks a step forward. (edit: didn’t finish my thought. Marked a step forward for many eastern european nations. Natural that they’d want to join.)