And even if the alliance really were just defensive, you realize that this means that all it takes to use it against someone is a successful false flag attack?
> successful false flag attack
Classic Russian. “AKSHUALLY IT’S PROVOKASHION”
Also it seems that NATO rebuffed Russia's attempt to join it. With Russia in NATO would have been the strongest defense alliance. I wonder why they wanted to keep Russians as perpetual enemies!
If you really did go back 200 years before NATO, you might be surprised to learn about the conflict ridden European history. The French were prolific invaders, for example. They still run colonies in far away places.
Yes.
Russia is controlled by people with the same worldview as the people who controlled the Soviet Union. So in a sense, yes.
That worldview to be clear is "Russia is destined to be great, but the entire world is conspiring to bring it down". Stalin had been using the phrase "capitalist encirclement" since some point in the 20s. Nowadays it's "NATO encroachment". It's not an argument to be engaged in good faith by anyone who's paying attention.
The "Soviet Union" was a tool invented by Stalin to bring under his control the people that he couldn't assimilate into Russia directly. Yes, they're the same thing.
Stalin was born in Georgia, hid his accent, had the state photographers airbrush his Georgian features (arched nose, chin, and brow) to look more Russian, personally ensured that Georgia was absorbed into Russia, and made Russian the only allowed language in Georgia.
So what? What's your point? You're just trying to distract from the point that matters, which is that the people currently in power in Russia had exactly the same worldview as the people in power in the Soviet Union, which is that "Russia is destined to be great, but the rest of the world is conspiring to bring it down". This applies to Putin, Stalin, and anyone who has any power in Russia.
"but but but stalin was georgian". Fucking ignoramus.
Excellent question. Let's ask the person who justified Russia's invasion by saying that NATO contravened its non-expansion guarantee to the Soviet Union.
Nato doesn't "expand." Countries join it for protection from predatory nations like Russia. Russia is NATO's greatest salesperson. Seriously.
> Ukraine gave up their nukes and signed the Budapest memorandum with Russia
For a moment, let's take your highly simplistic statement at face value. USSR gave up East Germany and voluntarily dissolved itself on the agreement that NATO won't expand east of Germany and Russia will be "admitted" into the West. What do we do about that now?
What agreement? Even Gorbachev (last leader of USSR) confirmed that there was no such agreement.
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/did-nato-promise-not-to-e...
And it did not voluntarily dissolved itself, it fell apart. Like when your plate voluntarily dissolves itself when you drop it on the floor.
NATO doesn't threaten non-expansionist powers as a defensive treaty. Read the treaty. Being "admitted" into the west is easy--don't invade other countries, send little green men army invasions or make bellicose nuclear threats, and focus on business-first and the red carpet rolls itself out.
"Myth," Gorbachev said. "Had we had an agreement, we would've written it down," he added: https://x.com/splendid_pete/status/1650735533826375680
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-06-15/russia...
At the end of the day American hegemony has essentially produced the most peaceful, prosperous period ever and America is pretty open to any country joining this hegemony as long as you play by its basic rules.
This does not mean giving up your culture. American hegemony is able to allow such disparate economies and societies as Saudi Arabia and Norway to operate in fairly peaceful markets.
At the end of the day, it is in the best interest of everyone to basically do what America says.
Unlike previous regimes, America has not completely run roughshod over anyone other than people that were already doing extremely questionable things. And it doesn't matter because if your leaders kowtow enough to American demands, you can be pretty sure we will leave you alone.
So basically, Russia is going to lose and will make a fool of themselves as they already have, and America will come out of this relatively unscathed. At the end of the day, America has no real competition. The Pax Americana is substantively different than Pax Brittanica and Pax Romana, in that Americas is worldwide and there is no country able to threaten America in any meaningful way. We are blessed to be surrounded by two very friendly countries that play well with us.
Moreover all the countries that might threaten us are literally dying out.
While the US operates at an arms length from KSA with none of the usual theatrics about human rights violations, LGBTQ rights, etc, it has not adopted the same approach to China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, etc. It aggressively meddles in them in cultural and political spheres, not allowing such disparate actors to operate in the same peaceful markets. The recent animosity towards China is mind boggling.
I remember Wolfowitz’s PNAC and full spectrum domination from 2001. The US seem to have lost plenty of its power projection since then. But for its vassal states, most countries do not seem to care about its sanctions on Russia.
People don’t mind a just thug keeping peace and offering protection for a reasonable sum though. The US did that role well.
As I said... If the leaders of those countries simply kowtowed to american demands, you bet they would. In particula,
China -- institute free market reforms; officially announce the truth, which is that they're not communist (they haven't been for years).
Russia -- not have Putin
Iran -- not have the Ayatollah
Cuba -- not be communist
At the end of the day it is very easy to acquiesce to American demands. You simply have to not try to undo a coup they did and then never ever ever say you're communist. You can go ahead and be a dictator, but America has decided communism bad, so just don't go there and you will be okay with the US. Then let the US operate military bases on your country's soil, and voila, you will be America's friend forever. Recall that Pakistan is still an ally of the United States despite harboring its most wanted terrorist.
in other words, there are very clear paths for all these countries to not feel the full force of American sanctions. And this is what I mean by the US doesn't really care. Even with China, you can say all you want about it, but America's embrace of China has made it what it is today, despite the cold tensions.
In US, yes. In the rest of the world, no.
Are there some rogue states that do not play well with American hegemony? Yes
But these states can easily make good by simply following America's terms. There are few grudges being held. No one is going to kill all their men and enslave their women. American demands are not so gruesome. They're relatively mild and would likely improve the standard of living of everyone there. I don't make this claim vacuously. Broadly speaking, everywhere that has adopted American hegemony has done incredibly well for themselves and their populace. Rationally speaking, there's no reason not to.