No easy solution now.
There was no way Stalin was going to convert to a free market, open election system. None.
Recall how the Soviets occupied eastern Europe.
Recall the Berlin Wall.
There was no negotiating with them at the time.
The Russian mindset was set under the czars. The mentality was not one that could understand western concepts right after WW2. They are reverting back to their roots with Putin as their Czar.
Which country sent chicken legs to starving Russian population in the beginning of 1990s which the said population fondly called “Bush’s legs”? The answer is: United States of America.
Who guaranteed Russian security by promising Ukraine protection after convincing Ukraine government to transfer their nuclear weapons to Russia? The answer is: United States of America.
US businesses (Ford, McDonald’s, numerous others) improved living standards for thousands of Russian citizens with well-paid jobs, as well as provided vital technologies to many Russian enterprises.
Your claim that “we turned our back” has no factual basis, or is an intentional lie.
They did receive such assistance. Massive FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) and tech support in developing their energy extraction and export infrastructure pulled them out of poverty. The strength of Russia today is the direct result of such assistance.
The US also granted them MFN (most favored nation) status in 1996, pretty much as soon as they applied. China only got MFN in 2001. MFN also opened up the FDI stream.
One can, with reason, argue that it was exactly that, the US/western support for Russia, that created a monster, that could afford (or so they thought) expansionist wars and dreams of a restored empire.
“I have to think we had a chance at a different outcome, but nope, we now have a challenge with Russia who should be our natural ally against the Islamic Cult and China.”
NATO should have been dissolved once the Warsaw Pact fell. NATO has been a giant welfare program for the treacherous and ungrateful Euros. It cost us a lot of money, it earned us no love and now it’s a military pact in search of a conflict to justify its further existence.
Agree and it’s not to late to make nice umder Trump and realize that we have much in common in interests and relatively little really different. We should also take the lead in helping bring North Korea onto the modern age and improving life for its people. I hope to see both things in my lifetime
“It sadly goes back to the end of the Cold War.”
^
Why the Cold War?