Did NATO Really "Betray" Russia?

many might be wondering how did it come to this how even after the ussr fell did russia go down such a different path than nato was there ever perhaps some possibility that these two rivals after the end of the cold war would have came together in peace because apparently putin seems to think so or at least he says so his current track record with the truth isn't the best by the way you really think someone would do that putin says russia wanted to join nato but nato didn't let them is there truth to this the answer to why russia didn't join nato is a story about a former superpower rebuilding itself from the ground up how russia or at least the duma and putin viewed their status in regards to the west so first the question we're all asking when it comes to this whole situation who's to blame for this gets putin a hundred percent this was all putin even if nato had done some bad things even if russia had some fair points about their expansion even if nato took over ukraine like putin says you still can't invade others like it was bad when the us did it in iraq it's even worse when putin does it now 1991 the fall of the ussr russia is weak and wants assurance from the us and nato that they wouldn't spread east of germany eastern europe could be like a neutral ground and the united states informally agreed or well george h.w bush agreed verbally barr we can't show any weakness in front of the russians this was never an actual written agreement it was just an understanding oh also i was lying this agreement wasn't made with russia after the fall of the ussr but before with gorbachev the importance of this agreement really depends on who you ask for avid russian supporters this was a legitimate sometimes legal agreement that nato promised and then broke for nato their promise not to move east was an informal verbal agreement that doesn't matter throughout the last century there have been multiple discussions between nato and the russians over their relationship with nato the first one at least of note was in 1990 where the united states agreed not to move east into east germany after the fall of the berlin wall the ussr though weakened was still a prominent power and nato verbally agreed that they would never move in to germany and then the soviets collapsed now when talking about how important these promises were to the soviets we will never really know even gorbachev flip-flops on how important these assurances actually were what's more interesting is the constant mention of the csce never heard of it it's because it never really panned out like it was truly planned whether or not any of this was true or just bluster this talk of a united umbrella was seen as a viable possibility in the early 90s before the ussr even fell this is what gorbachev and the russians heard russia at least if the soviets fell would be joining a united europe and then clinton was elected it's 1992 baby the soviets are dead bush despite overseeing the fall of the soviet union and bombing saddam's forces back into iraq still promised to not raise taxes read my lip and then he raised taxes so he was voted out nato was seen as a relic of an age that no longer existed it was an active discussion in the 90s what the fate of nato should even be it was a stringently anti-communist alliance that no longer had a communism to fight and yet nato stayed now let me take out this big old button i should iterate that the russians are not simply victims in this for central europe nations like poland hungary romania and even other nations like the baltic states were living under soviet control for decades as soon as the warsaw pact fell there was a real homegrown movement to join nato or at least get some protection from the west in case anything happened again would anything happen again who knows the west didn't know the russians didn't know and this was kind of the basis of clinton sort of keeping nato around we're into 1993 russia is slowly rebuilding with a few hiccups along the way clinton comes to boris yeltsin with a proposal a partnership for peace all of europe now coming together nobody would need to expand nato if we all were just in this partnership together and then clinton drops the bombshell on yeltsin this whole partnership for peace was not an alternative to the expansion of nato it was a preparation for it to which yeltsin replied why nato was created in cold war times today it's trying to find its place in europe not without difficulty it's important that this search not create new divisions but promote european unity we believe that the plans of expanding nato are contrary to this logic why sow the seeds of distrust after all we're no longer adversaries we are partners yet the plans continued poland hungary and czechia soon joined nato yet this wasn't the breaking point in relations russia still remained a part of the nato cooperation sphere there was an optimistic view that the kinks in this whole thing were slowly being worked out now keep in mind this whole time nato is entirely justified in what they're doing they're technically not doing anything wrong but from the russian mindset going from a communist superpower to a mafia state where this man is their leader well they felt nothing but shame that fear and paranoia only began to grow and it became manifested when this guy came to power but even with putin in office and him winning the presidency through some zany means russia was still somewhat friendly with the us yet that was going to change in 2004 nato under bush's push brought in seven new nations now once again if these nations went to join nato that's fine but after a decade of this russia became paranoid that nato was simply out to get them and then bush welcomes in these nations as escaping an evil empire the door to nato will remain open until the whole of europe is united in freedom and in peace you can even go back to articles in 2004 where people say russia is going to change their foreign policy the russian duma began freaking out and the first man they ran to was a violent putin georgia was invaded four years later in mind when i say russians i don't mean all russians i mean the russian government which should usually be clear but i just know some of you are going to try to use that as a gotcha one question may be on your mind after the cold war why didn't the russians just join nato if they were so afraid of it general opposition to the west for one russia even while the ussr was collapsing didn't want to view this as a defeat they wanted to view this as a new age then it turns out only their institutions fell but there's also another reason why russia didn't join nato is not simply an alliance it's a structured machine when a nation joins nato it is not simply changing to the blue team the way its military is organized becomes based around being able to work within that machine a country joining nato is a process that takes years this isn't a process that simply happens for one a nation joining nato has to be unanimously accepted by everyone and it also has to be voted on by that nation's population as an example hungary in 1997 voted 85 percent in favor of joining would the russian people ever have accepted to join an organization that they believed was an arm of the american empire the rule of geopolitics is the closer you are to a superpower the more they mingle and try to control your nation and that's what russia really views a lot of their neighbors as just pawns on a board for which they as the stronger nation have the right to control their goals in europe simply drive others away from them it's a self-fulfilling prophecy nato expansion closer to russia only made them more paranoid and isolated however if nato didn't expand who's to say what countries like estonia might find themselves in right now it's clear putin has some fantasy about rebuilding the russian empire or at least the influence of the ussr this video is not about two equally bad camps nato's greatest sin at least in this regard is leaving its doors wide open it's been said that americans should imagine what it'd be like if canada fell to chinese influence complaining that your geopolitical rival lied about letting your former allies into their compass club doesn't make you look like a victim nobody would feel sorry for the united states if china took canada they would laugh oh wait actually we don't need a hypothetical the same situation happened with the us2 with cuba and we know how the u.s would react when a neighbor turns to the enemy side keep them sanctioned for decades which here's a little tip is a bad thing to do too what about ism is used a lot by pro-putin supporters bringing up every transgression the us has ever done and it's true the united states has done a lot of bad things iraq for instance that was bad it's funny it's being used as an equivalent because people in the west at the time protested the war without disappearing the closest the u.s had to censoring opposition to the iraq war was when the country industry killed off the dixie chicks career can russians today say the same thing or are they not even allowed to call this a war but a military operation that said we should be asking some questions to ourselves did nato still need to exist after the soviets fell did nato existing push russia towards a nationalistic paranoia in its reforming years that undermined the same liberal democracy that the west was trying to plant within the country was nato obligated to give russian interests the time of day do geopolitics even work like that for my personal opinion i believe that the russians had far different expectations for what a post-soviet world would look like the russians believed in part because of those 1990 talks involving east germany that with the end of the warsaw pact nato wouldn't expand that instead there would be some coalition in europe where russia has special privileges while to the americans they took the fall of the ussr as a victory their promises to the soviets were when the warsaw pact still existed with the collapse the americans now oversaw a central in eastern europe that was eager to join in the economic prosperity of the west it was a complicated act balancing these nations while also trying to not exclude the russians a europe that russia claimed it wanted to be in yet russia only became more and more isolated while much of this discussion is around nato this is simply one element nato up until recent events didn't actually move their military equipment past those original 1991 borders the main issue the russian government has isn't just a military bloc but western institutions or at least institutions that don't serve their interests if putin wasn't blaming nato the problem would be something else like i don't know the whole thing that started this in the first place like ukrainians wanting to join the european union putin's russia really has been their own worst enemy for a while as every hostile action every threat every influence every corrupt politician has only made their former allies turn against them it's always good to try to see from all perspectives yet not all perspectives are equal sometimes the perspective is simply that another nation was a mistake to exist sometimes it's that the collapse of the ussr was the most catastrophic event of the 20th century even if there was a kernel of truth to the idea that nato misled the russians it does not justify their actions should putin really be talking about how misleading is bad kind of seems like that was their strategy for the last few months nato is not a perfect organization however if the nations of europe want to join this club it should always be their right russia expected the continent to remain a neutral ground for their own interests even after their pact collapsed and when that didn't happen they claimed no fair you do not start wars over verbal agreements that happened before most of your troops were even born we cannot forget that this all is coming down to a real war within a split nation a war that while true has been raging for eight years only began because the russian side didn't have their guy in charge anymore one that escalated into an invasion of an independent nation which regardless of the justification only justifies the fears of russia's enemies so uh yeah congrats putin you were the monster that proved nato was right to build up while this alliance didn't know what it was going to be in the mid 90s it sure does know now you didn't want to be a part of europe and now you get your wish [Music] you

Channel: AlternateHistoryHub

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Keywords: AlternateHistoryHub, Did NATO Really Betray Russia, NATO and Russia, Russia and NATO, Ukraine War, Russia and Ukraine, Russia and Ukraine 2022, Russia and Ukraine History, AlternateHistoryHub Ukraine, Ukraine, NATO Russia History, alternate history hub

Id: Gg0OWPjdLzU

Length: 14min 53sec (893 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 07 2022