Posted on 02/18/2022 7:08:29 PM PST by Beave Meister
A newly discovered document from March 1991 shows US, UK, French, and German officials discussing a pledge made to Russia that NATO will not expand to Poland and beyond. Its publication by the German magazine Der Spiegel on Friday proves Moscow right and NATO wrong on the matter.
The minutes of a March 6, 1991 meeting in Bonn between political directors of the foreign ministries of the US, UK, France, and Germany contain multiple references to “2+4” talks on German unification in which the West made it “clear” to the Soviet Union that NATO will not expand past the eastern borders of Germany.
“We made it clear to the Soviet Union – in the 2+4 talks, as well as in other negotiations – that we do not intend to benefit from the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Eastern Europe,” the document quotes US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Canada Raymond Seitz.
“NATO should not expand to the east, either officially or unofficially,” Seitz added.
A British representative also mentions the existence of a “general agreement” that membership of NATO for eastern European countries is “unacceptable.”
(Excerpt) Read more at alethonews.com ...
Don’t worry the US and it’s NATO allies can be trusted….
It should’ve dissolved right after the Warsaw Pact did. I can understand our NATO “allies” wanting to keep it together so we’d continue to pay for their defense. But for us, it no longer served a purpose. At least not an America First purpose.
The Military Industrial Complex must be fed the blood and treasure of America.
Ukraine can join NATO when Cuba joins the CSTO/SCO military alliance against us.
Which is never.
The E.U. should have filled the power vacuum after we've dissolved NATO. Then they will be on the hook for defense.
So then Russia got what it wanted from Biden.
It just your children being fed into the maw of the beast. You can always make more, comrade. /sarc
Remember, one of the reasons for NATO is to make sure we don’t have another Germany wanting to take over Europe. We broke the cycle. No one wants that again.
The document is from 30 years ago. We reneged.
You mean like the Russians who have lied and broken every single arms agreement they have ever signed since 1991, which has led to them having the most advanced and powerful nuclear force in the world with more nukes than the USA, the UK and France combined?
Why are we even worried about a "recently discovered paper" according to Russian state media, apparently hidden after all these years (and even denied by Gorbachov, who says there were NO discussions about NATO expansion in those days), but not about the way Russia has taken advantage of Western weakness to militarize their borders with enough Nukes and weaponry to sweet through all of Europe?
But if the United States allegedly had a verbal agreement--that apparently was never made into any kind of signed agreement or treaty--that it violated, who gives a shit about what Russia has done to change the balance off power in the world!
BTW, the Putinists on this forum constantly tell us what goes on in Russia and Ukraine is none of our business. And yet they sure do spend a LOT of time spreading Russian bullshit and propaganda to justify not only the annihilation of Ukraine, but even want Poland stomped on, since Poland's entry into NATO "violated agreements!" with Russia by them joining in 1997!
It’s behind a paywall, but Der Spiegel really did run this story:
It is not (yet?) on their international version, but they ran this a few days ago, perhaps as a lead-up to this:
.
I find it hard to believe the Russians would accept that comical sh!t at face value. The fact that they didn’t insist on getting anything in writing is probably a good indication that they had no leverage to oppose it.
Hey, I can't read them all.
Thanks for posting, it’s now making sense why Russia is so pissed.
If the MIC wants a showdown with Russia, do you think it would make a difference if the agreement was in writing?
The invasion from our southern border is nothing like the one Russia is facing in their east.
How come Russia is worrying about the non-threat from Ukraine, when they have lost control of entire regions to the Chinese?
I'm pretty sure their concern is the US bellying its way into their safe space.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.