3 Items

Signing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

(AP Photo/Marcy Nighswander)

Magazine Article - Foreign Affairs

The Shoals of Ukraine: Where American Illusions and Great-Power Politics Collide

| Nov. 22, 2019

Over the past quarter century, nearly all major efforts at establishing a durable post–Cold War order on the Eurasian continent have foundered on the shoals of Ukraine. For it is in Ukraine that the disconnect between triumphalist end-of-history delusions and the ongoing realities of great-power competition can be seen in its starkest form.

U.S. President George W. Bush answers questions at a final news conference in London for the NATO Summit, Friday, July 6, 1990. President Bush and the other 16 NATO leaders met for a two-day meeting discussing the changing nature of the NATO organization.

AP Photo

Journal Article - Quarterly Journal: International Security

Perpetuating U.S. Preeminence: The 1990 Deals to “Bribe the Soviets Out” and Move NATO In

| Summer 2010

Washington and Bonn pursued a shared strategy of perpetuating U.S. preeminence in European security after the end of the Cold War. As multilingual evidence shows, they did so primarily by shielding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from potential competitors during an era of dramatic change in Europe. In particular, the United States and West Germany made skillful use in 1990 of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's political weakness and his willingness to prioritize his country's financial woes over security concerns. Washington and Bonn decided "to bribe the Soviets out," as then Deputy National Security Adviser Robert Gates phrased it, and to move NATO eastward.