America's worthless promise to Russia

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989, the US and NATO promised to move NATO 'not one inch' closer to Russia in return for Russia allowing Germany into NATO. Since then NATO has engulfed Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, Albania and Croatia. Trump has agreed to absorb the tiny state of Montenegro as the unlucky (for Russia) thirteenth former member of the Soviet block into NATO. US troops and threatening NATO military exercises are routinely conducted in these lands to further provoke Russian security fears in ratcheting up Uncle Sam's new Cold War. Three years ago the US sponsored and supported a coup in Ukraine toppling the Russia leaning but duly elected Ukraine president. This unleashed anti Russian action in Russian populated Eastern Ukraine. Was it any wonder Russia moved to protect its naval base there in Crimea as well as the ethnic Russians under siege from neo Nazi Ukraine thugs? Any one of these new NATO members could serve as a trip wire for conflict between the two remaining nuclear powers.

Back in 2008, premier new Cold War impresario Sen. John McCain, injected himself into Georgia's border dispute with Russia over South Ossetia by proclaiming "I speak for every American when I say to him (Georgian president Saakashvili), 'Today we are all Georgians.'" Had Georgia been swallowed up by the insatiable NATO behemoth, that dispute could have easily drawn the US into war with Russia.

Just like being able to chew gum and tie our shoes at the same time, we should be able to investigate Trump's possible election treason with Russia without ramping up a new Cold War. We can start by keeping the promise we made in 1989 and giving the NATO boot to the old Soviet Bloc states it gobbled up.