{"id":7409,"date":"2014-10-19T07:25:59","date_gmt":"2014-10-19T05:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=7409"},"modified":"2014-10-19T07:25:59","modified_gmt":"2014-10-19T05:25:59","slug":"dont-accept-putins-version-of-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=7409","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Accept Putin\u2019s Version of History"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Don\u2019t Accept Putin\u2019s Version of History<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n

By: Anne Applebaum<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Photo<\/a>

East German citizens climb the Berlin wall at the Brandenburg Gate as they celebrate the opening of the East German border on Nov. 10, 1989. Photo by Str Old\/Reuters<\/p><\/div>\n

LONDON\u2014Looking back over the past quarter-century, it isn\u2019t easy to name a Western policy that can truly be described as a success. The impact of Western development aid is debatable. Western interventions in the Middle East have been disastrous.<\/span><\/p>\n

But one Western policy stands out as a phenomenal success, particularly when measured against the low expectations with which it began: The integration of Central Europe and the Baltic States into the European Union and NATO. Thanks to this double project, more than 90 million people have enjoyed relative safety and relative prosperity for more than two decades, in a region whose historic instability helped launch two world wars.<\/span><\/p>\n

These two \u201cexpansions,\u201d which were parallel but not identical (some countries are members of one organization but not the other), were transformative because they were not direct leaps, as the word \u201cexpansion\u201d implies, but slow negotiations. Before joining NATO, each country had to establish civilian control of its army. Before joining the EU, each adopted laws on trade, judiciary, human rights. As a result, they became democracies. This was \u201cdemocracy promotion\u201d working as it never has before or since.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why did we keep pretending that Russia had transformed itself?<\/span><\/p>\n

But times change, and the miraculous transformation of a historically unstable region became a humdrum reality. Instead of celebrating this achievement on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is now fashionable to opine that this expansion, and that of NATO in particular, was mistaken. This project is incorrectly \u201cremembered\u201d as the result of American \u201ctriumphalism\u201d that somehow humiliated Russia by bringing Western institutions into its rickety neighborhood. This thesis is usually based on revisionist history promoted by the current Russian regime\u2014and it is wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the record: No treaties prohibiting NATO expansion were ever signed with Russia. No promises were broken. Nor did the impetus for NATO expansion come from a \u201ctriumphalist\u201d Washington. On the contrary, Poland’s first efforts to apply in 1992 were rebuffed. I well remember the angry reaction of the U.S. ambassador to Warsaw at the time. But Poland and others persisted, precisely because they were already seeing signs of the Russian revanchism to come.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the slow, cautious expansion did eventually take place, constant efforts were made to reassure Russia. No NATO bases were ever placed in the new member states, and until 2013 no exercises were conducted there. A Russia-NATO agreement in 1997 promised no movement of nuclear installations. A Russia-NATO council was set up in 2002. In response to Russian objections, Ukraine and Georgia were in fact denied NATO membership plans in 2008.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, not only was Russia not \u201chumiliated\u201d during this era, it was given de facto \u201cgreat power\u201d status, along with the Soviet U.N. Security Council seat and Soviet embassies. Russia also received Soviet nuclear weapons, some transferred from Ukraine in 1994 in exchange for Russian recognition of Ukraine’s borders. Presidents Clinton and Bush both treated their Russian counterparts as fellow \u201cgreat power\u201d leaders and invited them to join the G-8\u2014although Russia, neither a large economy nor a democracy, did not qualify.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more: Don\u2019t Accept…<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Don\u2019t Accept Putin\u2019s Version of History By: Anne Applebaum LONDON\u2014Looking back over the past quarter-century, it isn\u2019t easy to name a Western policy that can truly be described as a success. The impact of Western development aid is debatable. Western interventions in the Middle East have been disastrous. But one Western policy stands out as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7409"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7409"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7425,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7409\/revisions\/7425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}