Russia wants a European cooperative security framework from the Atlantic to the Ural Mountains? Moscow had that when it was the Soviet Union. It was called the Warsaw Pact. All Moscow needed to do was advance west if it could break NATO's main line of resistance in West Germany.
Well sure, Russia wants a European security architecture from the Atlantic to the Ural Mountains.
Since the Cold War Russia has championed the concept of a single European security architecture, envisioned as a cooperative framework spanning “from the Atlantic to the Urals” and grounded in the principle of “indivisible security” – i.e. the notion that no state’s security should be enhanced at another’s expense. This vision, first articulated in the 1970s and refined through decades of geopolitical shifts, reflects Russia’s strategic aim to counter and undermine Western-dominated security structures, particularly NATO, and secure its role as an equal partner in Europe.
Oh, not an equal partner. Russia would be the nuclear-armed colossus in it. And as Russia's invasion of Ukraine shows, that power would be magnified by a willingness to lose lots of young men in war. Europeans? Maybe not so much.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine also shows the meaning behind the notion that "no state's security should be enhanced at another's expense." Russia claims that small Ukraine is a threat because of Nazis, NATO, and Satan himself conspiring against Holy Mother Russia.
What could possibly go wrong?
That architecture excludes America, which would kill NATO. Which would allow Russia to dominate Europe using its large military and nuclear force.
Which is the reverse of the EU's vision of killing NATO to exclude America. Which would allow the EU to dominate Europe with 10,000 cheese regulations.
America must remain in Europe with a floor level of troops to maintain NATO as an alliance of free states in order to carry out the modern mission of NATO:
I say the purpose of maintaining NATO is to keep the Russians out, the Germans involved in defense, and the European Union down.
Don't let the (for now) rival empires win.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
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NOTE: map from https://maps-russia.com/img/1200/ussr-map-before-and-after.jpg
