John J. Mearsheimer: The Ukraine Crisis is the West's fault
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This is talk from 2015, but it is a very good one.
It is widely reported that when the USSR withdrew from Eastern Europe, the Americans and NATO promised them that NATO would not be moving east. Instead, it did move east, taking advantage of temporary Russian weakness. It is now on Russia's doorsteps - including not just Warsaw Pact members, but some member states of the USSR itself.
The fact of the matter is that Georgia and Ukraine have absolutely no business becoming members of NATO. Are the Americans going to risk nuclear war over the borders of Georgia, when they don't give a damn about their own borders?
If NATO is correct to move into Ukraine, and the Russians are the alleged belligerents for making a point of that, will Americans then concede that Khrushchev was correct to move nuclear missiles into Cuba?
Khrushchev violated the century old Monroe Doctrine trying to put missiles into Cuba. People forget that part as well. And it wasn’t the first time the United States was willing to go to war with a European power over their meddling in the Western Hemisphere.
He did violate the Monroe Doctrine.
Which is just the US asserting its right to keep other countries out. It's not any sort of law. Putin can also say that he doesn't want NATO at his borders, and that would have equal validity.
And the other counties who just gained independence after a half century of occupation might not give a damn what Their former occupiers wanted too…
I am not sure you can refer to a region that was under Russian control between 1720 (or thereabouts) and 1991 as being 'occupied'.