Previous posts in this discussion:   » US Withdrawal from Syria: A Wise Move (Cameron Sawyer, 12/21/18 9:18 AM)    » US Withdrawal from Syria: Perspective from Ankara (Yusuf Kanli, 12/25/18 8:06 AM)     » US Middle East Policy: Fifteen Years of Stupidity (Cameron Sawyer, 12/25/18 3:08 PM)      » Kurds or Turks: Who is America's Real Ally? (Cameron Sawyer, 12/27/18 5:02 AM)       » Erdogan's Turkey is Not a US Ally (Istvan Simon, 12/28/18 9:11 AM)        » Untangling the Kurdish Factions; Abdullah Öcalan of the PKK (Cameron Sawyer, 12/29/18 7:03 AM)         » Why are "We" in the Middle East? (Nigel Jones, 12/29/18 11:17 AM)          » When Two People Fight, Who Should be Helped? Kurdistan, Crimea, Kosovo (Eugenio Battaglia, 12/30/18 4:26 AM)           » Why Did NATO Intervene in Kosovo? From Gary Moore (John Eipper, 12/31/18 3:52 AM)            » Kosovo and the Kurds: Parallels? (Brian Blodgett, 01/02/19 5:07 AM)             » Was the NATO Campaign in Kosovo a Success? (Robert Gard, 01/03/19 3:56 AM)              » Did Putin Use Kosovo to "Justify" Crimea? (Robert Gard, 01/04/19 4:15 AM)

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Did Putin Use Kosovo to "Justify" Crimea? (Robert Gard, USA, 01/04/19 4:15 am)

John E asked me if Putin was emboldened to occupy Crimea because of NATO's earlier actions in Kosovo.

It's hard to probe Putin's motivations, but I do believe he has taken license from our switch.

JE comments:  Armchair historians could posit volumes of Putin "what ifs."  The biggest:  if NATO hadn't expanded into the former Soviet Bloc, would Putin have played nice with the West?  Robert Gard has phrased it perfectly--probing Putin's motivations is more art than science, as was the Kremlinology of yore.

Gary Moore (next) takes issue with Brian Blodgett's and Robert Gard's criticisms of the Kosovo campaign.

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