Media Release- A Long March to War: the U.S., Russia and Ukraine
University of Houston history professor available for media on the Russia-Ukraine war, the U.S. and NATO.
As Professor Buzzanco sees it, “the current conflict, clearly an act of aggression by Russia in violation of international law, also has to be observed in the context of a long confrontation with Russia since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Despite George H.W. Bush and James Baker promised the USSR that NATO would not expand eastward, the U.S. did that in the later 1990s, moving into ex-Soviet areas, which Russian leaders warned would be a “hostile act.” The U.S. also invested heavily in the Russian economy and political system as ex-Soviet industries were nationalized. Because of this, American power grew exponentially in areas adjacent to Russia, thus merging Vladimir Putin’s plan to expand Russian power aggressively with defense concerns of encirclement as NATO grew closer to Russia’s borders. Now, as the Russian attacks are destroying Ukraine and killing innocent people, the need for negotiations based not just on Russia’s violation of international law but also the legacy of 30 years of political conflict with the U.S. is necessary to stop the bloodshed.”