Why Not to Mourn NATO, Volume II: The Bush-Putin Files
Newly declassified documents show that the United States repeatedly traded stability for NATO expansion and NATO contracting
Yesterday Racket published a piece on Greenland and the fate of NATO that generated criticism, with some saying we underemphasized the value of “good relations” with European allies. It turns out we were remiss in paying attention to recently declassified exchanges between Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush that spoke to the issues in the piece.
The National Security Archive, a FOIA-based operation run since 1985 as a “check against government secrecy,” just a week ago released transcripts of exchanges between Putin and Bush during the post-9/11 period. This followed explosive releases by the same archive in late December. Both sets of documents showed that a U.S.-Russian relationship Bush cheerfully described as an “alliance” after 9/11 deteriorated quickly, in significant part because of NATO expansion.
“I just want to say it out loud… accession to NATO of a country like Ukraine will create for the long-term a field of conflict for you and us. Long-term confrontation,” Putin told Bush on April 6, 2008. Bush in reply flattered Putin, saying, “One of the things I admire about you is you weren’t afraid to say it to NATO. That’s very admirable.” But his position didn’t budge. This was shortly after relations between the two countries deteriorated over a summit in Bucharest in which NATO announced that it “welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership.”
In yesterday’s Racket piece it was mentioned that the United States under Bill Clinton chose to push NATO expansion at the expense of START II disarmament talks, a move that led to a 1997 group letter from 50 senior American policymakers that ended up being ignored. By the mid-2000s the U.S. and NATO were pursuing advanced new offensive and defensive systems that Putin reportedly told Bush were forcing Russia to keep pace with a “barbaric” new arms race, one that “horrified” even Putin himself. More on what else is in the documents:
