Editors’ note: Below is an exchange between the Freedom Center’s Shillman Fellow Daniel Greenfield and Ted Belman, the editor and publisher of Israpundit.org. We hope our readers will find this dialogue/debate hosted by Frontpage to be thought-provoking and informative. See our previous exchange between Joseph Puder and Daniel Greenfield on Israel’s ‘Balancing Act’ in the Russia-Ukraine War.
Clearly, the US is the Aggressor in the Ukraine War.
By Ted Belman
On Dec 21, 2021, I co-authored with Alexander Markovsky, a friend of mine, Ukraine, NATO, and the Most Fateful Error of American Policy, though Markovsky dominated the input.
“After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disintegration of the Warsaw Pact, NATO, in a violation of the verbal agreement between Secretary of State James Baker and Russian Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, launched a massive expansion to the east.
“This expansion can be seen from Moscow only as a strategy to encircle Russia and turn its neighbors into hostile countries. As long as Russia was economically and military weak, the process proceeded unabated. NATO has grown from 16 countries before the reunification of Germany, to 28 today.”
Our next article was on January 14, 2022, If USA and Russia are Implacable Foes, all Lines of Inquiry Lead to NATO.
“In 1961, as a young academic Henry Kissinger had an opportunity to interview President Harry Truman. He asked the President what in his presidency had made him most proud. Truman replied, “That we totally defeated our enemies and then brought them back to the community of nations.”
“Unfortunately, the U.S. chose not to emulate Truman’s achievement. With the disintegration of the Warsaw Pact, the military threat to Western Europe had ended, but NATO alliance did not disband itself. Mission accomplished was not good news for the military alliance — it needed new enemies and a new mission for self-preservation.
“Indeed, NATO had no difficulty adjusting to the emerging world order. A new enemy was invented — Russia was to be treated as a descendant of the “evil empire.” The concept of an alliance was quietly converted into a doctrine of collective security. The difference is that while alliances are aimed at a specific threat and define the obligation of each partner in case of belligerency, collective security is an ambiguous concept that defines no specific threat and is designed to resist any aggression anywhere in the world. In this new mission NATO equated peace and security with expanding democratic gains and proliferation of American values.”
More Here https://www.frontpagemag.com/daniel-greenfield-vs-ted-belman-on-the-russia-ukraine-war/