US interests served Europe during that period because it was in our interests to keep the Soviet Union out of Europe, to have Europe as a buffer. That was a perfect confluence of interests.
kholt,
Accepting that statement requires some convoluted thinking. You cannot sell that to me.
Europe did indeed become a buffer, but certainly not for the USA.
Since Lenin, the Russian Bear has always been frantically protecting its own borders. Stalin continued that policy. Eastern Europe, occupied by the Soviets, became the buffer. And it was established not to protect the USA, rather to protect mother Russia.
The minefields, barbed wire fences and concrete walls surrounding Berlin and along the East German, and Czechoslovakian borders with the west and the Hungarian border with Austria were not built by America to protect America....They were built by Soviets to protect Russia.
You wrote, "it was in our interests to keep the Soviet Union out of Europe." If true, we failed miserably for a long time.
The Russians occupied one helluva slice of Europe; Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Hungary, Czech, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, etc...for one reason.
Western Europe was not a buffer to protect America. Eastern Europe was established as a buffer to protect Russia.
How many Russian leaders can you name who stood at the wall and demanded America tear it down?
uw |
