for ten years, the russian democrats did everything they could to convey the message to the west that if we were interested in the future of democracy in russia, the last thing we should do is expand nato. first wave of nato expansion comes in 1999. guess when vladimir putin first comes on to the political scene in moscow. let s talk about 2008 and the bucharest summit in which nato membership is raised for georgia and the ukraine. the georgian war comes soon after that. and in 2014, the big issue on the agenda with the ukraine was whether it was going to move closer to europe and the eu. professor desch, right now, do you believe nato plays an important role in the protection of western europe? certainly latvia, estonia, front line states certainly believe it does. do you believe it does? well, i understand why they believe it does. i m not sure that all europeans i m asking do you believe it does. do i believe that it does? i believe that the europeans are fully capable of
begging russia to be our friend with the misspelled reset button? obama tried also but he had zero chemistry with putin. richard haas, go. there s so much to unpack there. i followed you on twitter. i sort of feel like i read your i won t call it a nervous breakdown but your exas pich piration in real time. he continues to give russia a pass. a pass would be the benefit of the death. this is i believe them. two years of essentially not seeing russia as the international spoiler, as the international problem that they are. second of all, he continues to overpersonalize relationships wlrks it s with the leader with north korea, putin. somehow personal chemistry matters. no. country also follow their own national interests, which is what he should be doing. third, he introduces american