How NATO Provokes Russia

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The New York Times writes in “What’s Driving Putin’s Ukraine Brinkmanship?” that: “There are tactical reasons for threatening an invasion, but the real cause may lie in the Kremlin’s fixation with righting what it sees as a historical injustice.”

But last month, CommonDreams noted: “Defense Minister Says Russia to Boost Military Over ‘Increased NATO Activity’ Near Border.”

DAVID GIBBS, dgibbs@email.arizona.edu
    Gibbs is professor of history at the University of Arizona and author of the book First Do No Harm: Humanitarian Intervention and the Destruction of Yugoslavia, published by Vanderbilt University Press.

    He said today: “Recent tensions over the Ukraine are raising the possibility of a full return to the Cold War between the two powers, the United States and Russia. What is often overlooked in this emerging crisis is that it began with a U.S. provocation against Russia. In 1990, the U.S. government promised that NATO would never be expanded into former communist states in Eastern Europe, ‘not one inch eastward,’ in the words of then Secretary of State James Baker. The U.S. violation of this agreement — its massive expansion into Eastern Europe after 1990 — lay at the heart of the recent U.S.-Russian tensions.”