Ricardolindo
Well-known member
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Yeltain wrote in a letter in 1991 that Russia had a long term goal to join NATO.
Could this have actually happened?
Could this have actually happened?
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Russia joins NATO
- Thread starter Ricardolindo
- Start date
Elektronaut
Effectively Stood Down
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Under Yeltsin, no absolutely not, as he spent nearly the entirety of his time in power trying to avoid being outflanked by the ultranationalist opposition domestically, which was the dominant domestic force from the 1993 elections onwards. It's why he took the stance he did on just about every single foreign policy issue involving eastern europe in the nineties. And even those stances were with Clinton and the west going out of their way to cut him some slack so as not to destabalise him.
Obviously they would never be reconciled to NATO and consequently the end of their desire for renewed empire in eastern Europe.
It's conceivable Russia could have ended up in NATO some time around the middle of this century (And the EU possibly several decades quicker than that) if Yelstin had a more liberal successor and the economic gains of the last twenty years had been tied into that sort of political environment. But obviously that didn't happen.
Obviously they would never be reconciled to NATO and consequently the end of their desire for renewed empire in eastern Europe.
It's conceivable Russia could have ended up in NATO some time around the middle of this century (And the EU possibly several decades quicker than that) if Yelstin had a more liberal successor and the economic gains of the last twenty years had been tied into that sort of political environment. But obviously that didn't happen.
Last edited:
raharris1973
Well-known member
Putin brought it up again early in his Presidency as a hypothetical. I think his behavior within in the alliance would have been *distinctive*, a super-Gaullism, x10, forcing the US to use smaller 'coalitions of the willing' to do much of anything proactive or potentially controversial.
From the American side, James Baker proposed an invitation to Russia around 2001-2002. He was extremely influential in the diplomacy of the first Bush administration. Don't know if he had similar views in the 90s and would have pushed them in a 2nd George HW Bush term, and as Elektronaut pointed out, Yeltsin reciprocating may not be possible.
In any case, although James Baker was a family friend and vital to George W. Bush securing the Presidency in 2001, that was pretty much the end of his influence under Bush the Younger, he had no role shaping the latter Bush's foreign policy, yielding place to Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz (Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell were appointed to high positions and tried to influence policy, and perhaps exerted some early influence, but in the event of any differences of opinion - Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz or Bolton always won - at least until Bob Gates was appointed in late 2006/7).
From the American side, James Baker proposed an invitation to Russia around 2001-2002. He was extremely influential in the diplomacy of the first Bush administration. Don't know if he had similar views in the 90s and would have pushed them in a 2nd George HW Bush term, and as Elektronaut pointed out, Yeltsin reciprocating may not be possible.
In any case, although James Baker was a family friend and vital to George W. Bush securing the Presidency in 2001, that was pretty much the end of his influence under Bush the Younger, he had no role shaping the latter Bush's foreign policy, yielding place to Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz (Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell were appointed to high positions and tried to influence policy, and perhaps exerted some early influence, but in the event of any differences of opinion - Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz or Bolton always won - at least until Bob Gates was appointed in late 2006/7).