March 29, 2014

Is NATO expansion to blame for Crimean crisis?

Featuring: Julianne Smith

Source: DW.de

Journalist: Jan Fritsche

The West's relations with Russia are at an historic low. This comes after years of NATO's enlargement policy in Eastern Europe. Should the military alliance have acted more cautiously?

Jamie Shea likes to reference knowledgeable people. In the context of the NATO enlargement process, he quotes Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, who said: "All great truths begin as blasphemies."

Ten years ago on March 29, 2004, NATO underwent the biggest enlargement in its history. Seven new member states in Eastern Europe joined the most powerful military alliance on the planet, some of them former members of the communist Warsaw pact.

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Author

  • Julianne Smith

    Former Adjunct Senior Fellow, Transatlantic Security Program

    Julianne (“Julie”) Smith is a contributing editor to Foreign Policy, where she coedits “Shadow Government.” She is also a senior advisor at WestExec Advisors, an adjunct senio...