Fiona Hill op ed in the New York Times: Putin Has the U.S. Right Where He Wants It

[ificandream]

Excerpt:

This time, Mr. Putin’s aim is bigger than closing NATO’s “open door” to Ukraine and taking more territory — he wants to evict the United States from Europe. As he might put it: “Goodbye, America. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

Read more: [link:https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/24/opinion/russia-ukraine-putin-biden.html|]

[niyad]

1. Paywall.

[themaguffin]

20. type the headline in Google and hit the News tab. Click on that link.

[niyad]

21. Thank you. I did find the article in other sources.

[DBoon]

2. another excerpt

As I have seen over two decades of observing Mr. Putin, and analyzing his moves, his actions are purposeful and his choice of this moment to throw down the gauntlet in Ukraine and Europe is very intentional. He has a personal obsession with history and anniversaries. December 2021 marked the 30th anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when Russia lost its dominant position in Europe. Mr. Putin wants to give the United States a taste of the same bitter medicine Russia had to swallow in the 1990s. He believes that the United States is currently in the same predicament as Russia was after the Soviet collapse: grievously weakened at home and in retreat abroad. He also thinks NATO is nothing more than an extension of the United States. Russian officials and commentators routinely deny any agency or independent strategic thought to other NATO members. So, when it comes to the alliance, all of Moscow’s moves are directed against Washington.

In the 1990s, the United States and NATO forced Russia to withdraw the remnants of the Soviet military from their bases in Eastern Europe, Germany and the Baltic States. Mr. Putin wants the United States to suffer in a similar way. From Russia’s perspective, America’s domestic travails after four years of Donald Trump’s disastrous presidency, as well as the rifts he created with U.S. allies and then America’s precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan, signal weakness. If Russia presses hard enough, Mr. Putin hopes he can strike a new security deal with NATO and Europe to avoid an open-ended conflict, and then it will be America’s turn to leave, taking its troops and missiles with it.

Ukraine is both Russia’s target and a source of leverage against the United States. Over the last several months Mr. Putin has bogged the Biden administration down in endless tactical games that put the United States on the defensive. Russia moves forces to Ukraine’s borders, launches war games and ramps up the visceral commentary. In recent official documents, it demanded ironclad guarantees that Ukraine (and other former republics of the U.S.S.R.) will never become a member of NATO, that NATO pull back from positions taken after 1997, and also that America withdraw its own forces and weapons, including its nuclear missiles. Russian representatives assert that Moscow doesn’t “need peace at any cost” in Europe. Some Russian politicians even suggest the possibility of a pre-emptive strike against NATO targets to make sure that we know they are serious, and that we should meet Moscow’s demands.

[Hekate]

10. Thanks for the extras

[uponit7771]

15. This article makes Russia sound endlessly stupid and Trumpish

[Scrivener7]

16. Well...

Vlad clearly does want us on our knees. Everything he does has been aiming at that.

But I think he is overestimating our weakness. He HAS weakened us considerably - and I will always believe he has been a major force in getting the former guy elected AND in the multiple disinformation campaigns that are currently fracturing us. He has worked hard to weaken us, and has been brilliant and patient in how he has gone about it.

But I don't think he has been quite as successful as he thinks he has.

[uponit7771]

17. +1, someone is filling his head or as I op'd the other day this is all for higher oil prices which

... helps the Russian economy and hurts the rest of the worlds with inflation

[Scrivener7]

18. It could very well just all boil down to this, though he can't spend the money he has now.

He's a sick man.

[elleng]

3. 'We knew this was coming.

“George, you have to understand that Ukraine is not even a country. Part of its territory is in Eastern Europe and the greater part was given to us.” These were the ominous words of President Vladimir Putin of Russia to President George W. Bush in Bucharest, Romania, at a NATO summit in April 2008.

Mr. Putin was furious: NATO had just announced that Ukraine and Georgia would eventually join the alliance. This was a compromise formula to allay concerns of our European allies — an explicit promise to join the bloc, but no specific timeline for membership.

At the time, I was the national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia, part of a team briefing Mr. Bush. We warned him that Mr. Putin would view steps to bring Ukraine and Georgia closer to NATO as a provocative move that would likely provoke pre-emptive Russian military action. But ultimately, our warnings weren’t heeded.

Within four months, in August 2008, Russia invaded Georgia. Ukraine got Russia’s message loud and clear. It backpedaled on NATO membership for the next several years. But in 2014, Ukraine wanted to sign an association agreement with the European Union, thinking this might be a safer route to the West. Moscow struck again, accusing Ukraine of seeking a back door to NATO, annexing Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and starting an ongoing proxy war in Ukraine’s southeastern Donbas region. The West’s muted reactions to both the 2008 and 2014 invasions emboldened Mr. Putin.

This time, Mr. Putin’s aim is bigger than closing NATO’s “open door” to Ukraine and taking more territory — he wants to evict the United States from Europe. As he might put it: “Goodbye, America. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

As I have seen over two decades of observing Mr. Putin, and analyzing his moves, his actions are purposeful and his choice of this moment to throw down the gauntlet in Ukraine and Europe is very intentional. He has a personal obsession with history and anniversaries. December 2021 marked the 30th anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when Russia lost its dominant position in Europe. Mr. Putin wants to give the United States a taste of the same bitter medicine Russia had to swallow in the 1990s.'>>>

[Hekate]

11. Thanks for the extras

[roamer65]

4. Actually this is bringing the US and EU closer together.

Dumb ass Putin cant see it.

[elleng]

5. Of course.

[PSPS]

8. No kidding. I don't remember any satellite country willingly joining the soviet union.

[BootinUp]

7. It's a game of chicken. I'd rather be Ridin' with Biden

[stopdiggin]

9. Putin may well be a grand strategist

but it doesn't appear like this gambit is likely to be achieving any of the stated goals.

But, here's something else (as heard on NPR several days ago) - Putin is completely in love with a grandiose image of himself as a major 'player' on the world stage. And, to that end - the world has been slathering on whipped cream and condiments, for at least the past month or two. Nothing but Putin, Putin, Putin - 24/7 - and he's positively basting in the glory.

So - seen in that context - he cannot lose ...
And is in fact already running up the score.

[elleng]

12. Sound like anyone we know?

2 sociopaths creating world chaos.

[usonian]

13. Would someone please evict Putin from the U.S.?

Asking for a friend.

[rockfordfile]

19. No kidding.

[Klaralven]

14. Russia only has to get agreement by one NATO member to keep Ukraine out

Invitation to join NATO has to be unanimous by the existing members.

Greece, for example, blackballed North Macedonia for many years.

[Johonny]

22. The day Putin drops dead will be a happy day for he world