Quote:
Originally Posted by Skybird
One wonders what would have become if NATO and the EU would have played fairly and honestly with Russia from the 90s on. But Washington did not want that. And so we and the Russians got the state of things we have now, and now head for an age of new confrontation, as I see it. The state becomes more corrupt and supressive again. Right the things that Putin >initially< fought back. But now he has become himself part of the gang he initially pushed back.
Unneeded. Completely unneeded.
Initially there was a big chance for a Russian-European merging, at least a closer bridging of differences than ever before. This opportunity is wasted by having wanted too much in the West. A big chance wasted. I see this as a historical tragedy.
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I agree wholeheartedly with you there, Skybird. I've been saying this for years. It was a great opportunity wasted by the West, because everybody was too busy celebrating victory in the Cold War and congratulating themselves to care what the continuation of the story was. There was a lot of opportunity for engagement with Russia wasted in the early 90s. By the time Putin was more than a petty city council official though, that opportunity had largely disappeared. The fate of modern Russia and the trajectory it's currently on was arguably sealed by 1993-1994, by the manner in which the economic collapse and the privatization happened (while Western capital looked largely the other way), and the decisive takeover of power by the executive (i.e. presidential) branch in the '93 constitutional crisis, along with other things. Those things already spelled doom for pro-western liberal democracy in Russia. I feel that greater engagement between Europe, the US and Russia to help rebuild it as a modern economy and civic society in the early 90s would've done everybody a lot of good.