There are other statements which contradict this link. As I said there was nothing in writing and if it’s not in writing it’s 99% of the time worthless.
To suggest this is all Russia’s and not anything the west has done fault is being disingenuous. Both sides have behaved irrationally at times. Russia invading the Ukraine being one of them.
I’m for America first, not NATO first and this mess is not in our interests. Let the Ukraine and Russia fight their war and for once in this century the US should stay out of yet another mindless, unnecessary and not in our interests war. Starting WWIII and a nuclear war over the Ukraine is the height is stupidity by both sides.
Your view is cogent and shared by me. To take one eight-year old quote to prove a point is a debate tactic of the "appeal to authority" method, but it does not complete the picture. To date, seven sets of sanctions and the destruction of undersea pipelines are throwing the West into greater turmoil, economically and politically. All for "cheering for one side," as we watch NATO munitions and armament disappearing into the conflict. From our many friends in Europe, we are hearing of growing challenges to them as prices surge. Because -- sanctions for a conflict which supposedly does not involve NATO excepting that it does. No combatants in the moment, but billions in cash and weapons. The EU is in debt, and the US in massive debt, as the military industrial complex, of which President Eisenhower warned, profiting nicely.
We were legal residents of Germany for decades. I can assure that the sentiment there is not as reported in our US media in the moment. The key is corruption, as we recall the participation of the princelings of the Biden, Kerry, Pelosi and Romney families made massive financial gain from involvement in the Ukraine. That is one side in this conflict which is so often ignored, with reason. It colors in a way that a color revolution does not. As Victoria Nuland said, caught in recording, "f*ck Europe." This is a mess, and the players are not all as they seem. That much is certain.