The Korean War, which began in 1950, was the first major military test for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The Korean War demonstrated the importance of NATO's integrated, multinational force and centralized command for collective defense. It also highlighted the need for rapidly deployable forces capable of fighting a limited war.
Henry Kissinger, who had been a prominent figure in U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War, initially supported NATO expansion as a way to promote stability and democratic governance in Eastern Europe. He believed that integrating these countries into NATO would help to solidify a post-Cold War order and diminish the chances of conflict in Europe.
However, in the 2000s, Kissinger's perspective shifted. He became more critical of NATO's eastward expansion, arguing that it could provoke Russia and undermine stability. He warned that such actions could lead to a resurgence of Russian nationalism and antagonism towards the West. Kissinger started to advocate for a more nuanced approach that recognized Russia's legitimate interests and sought to engage with it directly, rather than isolating it through military alliances.
In 1999, NATO led an air campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to stop the violence and humanitarian crisis in Kosovo. The operation lasted from March 24 to June 10, 1999. The campaign led to the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo and the establishment of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger admitted that the US promised the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev not to expand NATO to the East, but only verbally.
According to the politician, there were no official commitments stipulated in the written agreements, it was a personal promise of the then head of the State Department, James Baker.
“I know it's true, but it's never been written down. So we are right in saying that there was no official commitment," Kissinger said.
Earlier, the former US Secretary of State stated that European countries are against Ukraine joining NATO. The politician added that the opponents of Ukraine's entry into the alliance explained that this "issue requires careful study", Kissinger said.
Today's war in Ukraine is the culmination of a 30-year project of the American neoconservative movement. The Biden Administration is packed with the same neocons who championed the US wars of choice in Serbia (1999), Afghanistan (2001), Iraq (2003), Syria (2011), Libya (2011), and who did so much to provoke Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The neocon track record is one of unmitigated disaster, yet Biden has staffed his team with neocons. As a result, Biden is steering Ukraine, the US, and the European Union towards yet another geopolitical debacle. If Europe has any insight, it will separate itself from these US foreign policy debacles.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a neocon think-tank led by Kimberley Allen Kagan (and backed by a who’s who of defense contractors such as General Dynamics and Raytheon), continues to promise a Ukrainian victory. Regarding Russia’s advances, the ISW offered a typical comment: “[R]egardless of which side holds the city [of Sievierodonetsk], the Russian offensive at the operational and strategic levels will probably have culminated, giving Ukraine the chance to restart its operational-level counteroffensives to push Russian forces back.”
The facts on the ground, however, suggest otherwise. The West’s economic sanctions have had little adverse impact on Russia, while their “boomerang” effect on the rest of the world has been large. Moreover, the US capacity to resupply Ukraine with ammunition and weaponry is seriously hamstrung by America’s limited production capacity and broken supply chains. Russia’s industrial capacity of course dwarfs that of Ukraine’s. Russia’s GDP was roughly 10X that of Ukraine before war, and Ukraine has now lost much of its industrial capacity in the war.
President Joe Biden touted the expansion of NATO, his actions in the Middle East and progress in lowering military sexual assaults in a commencement address to the West Point graduating class. He drew a sharp contrast with his Republican rival by underscoring values Democrats have suggested are at risk, such as democracy and the NATO alliance.
“Nothing is guaranteed about our democracy in America,” he said. “Every generation has an obligation to defend it, to protect it, to preserve it, to choose it. Now it’s your turn.”
While the initial push for NATO expansion was driven by a desire to secure a stable Europe and reduce Russian influence, the evolving geopolitical landscape led Kissinger to reconsider the implications of that expansion, advocating for a more diplomatic approach in the later years. America and NATO should have heeded that change of mind.The shift Trump envisions would involve “significantly and substantially downsizing America’s security role — stepping back instead of being the primary provider of combat power in Europe, somebody who provides support only in times of crisis,” said Dan Caldwell, who recently served as a senior advisor to Russell Vought, the former senior Trump administration official who in May was named policy director for the Republican National Convention and who is expected to play a senior role in a second Trump administration. Vought is also president of the CRA.
Trump has consistently expressed pique that NATO allies “rip us off” by not meeting the 2 percent spending target. Most recently, Trump actually appeared to invite a Russian attack against NATO deadbeats, saying he’d “encourage” the Russians to “do whatever the hell they want” with member countries that have not yet met the defense spending target — a decade after the NATO allies pledged to do so at their 2014 summit in Wales.
On June 14 last year, Putin said Russia would be ready to negotiate an end to the war if Ukraine renounced any ambition to join NATO and withdrew troops from the four regions that Moscow has claimed as its own. Asked in his June 27 debate with Biden if such terms were acceptable, Trump replied, “No, they’re not acceptable. But look, this is a war that never should have started.”
Editorial comments expressed in this column are the sole opinion of the writer.
