European historian and nuclear arms policy expert Benjamin Abelow chats with Trey Elling about HOW THE WEST BROUGHT WAR TO UKRAINE: UNDERSTANDING HOW U.S. AND NATO POLICIES LED TO CRISIS, WAR, AND THE RISK OF NUCLEAR CATASTROPHE. Topics include:
- NATO’s expansion east over the past 30 years (0:35)
- Why NATO would’ve promised not to expand east in the early 1990s (2:46)
- NATO adding Poland is a member in the late ’90s (6:09)
- George W. Bush withdrawing the US from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in late 2001 (8:48)
- NATO’s failed attempt to add Georgia and Ukraine in 2008 (11:00)
- The US’s role in Ukraine’s 2014 coup (17:16)
- Russia’s response to the coup (26:26)
- US actions in Romania in 2016 (29:50)
- Trump surprisingly continuing aggressive policies toward Russia (33:53)
- NATO & US diplomacy with Ukraine intensifying in 2021 (38:20)
- The immediate future of the current conflict (47:15)
- The likely culprit(s) of the Nord Stream Pipeline attacks (53:25)
- Ben’s concern about a nuclear weapon being used (1:02:40)