Stop the Insanity: Halt NATO Enlargement to Salvage Relations with Russia

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Russia’s historic themes of invasion, expansion of the empire, and backwardness make Russians naturally suspicious of any foreign military alliance on their doorstep. The demise of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union in the 1990’s left Russians with a country smaller than that ruled by Peter the Great 300 years earlier. More recently, the 2004 round of NATO enlargement dealt Russia another blow by including the Baltic nations, all former Soviet republics. Meanwhile, NATO has broken numerous pledges, in the eyes of Russia, by expanding into Warsaw Pact nations as well as conducting offensive operations against Serbia, a fellow Slavic nation, without a UN Security Council resolution. Against this backdrop, NATO should have anticipated a particularly antagonistic Russian response to future enlargement talks, especially when they included Georgia and Ukraine. This paper argues that a temporary halt to NATO enlargement provides the best opportunity to develop a meaningful partnership with Russia without compromising on its fundamental beliefs and strengths.