[GUEST ACCESS MODE: Data is scrambled or limited to provide examples. Make requests using your API key to unlock full data. Check https://lunarcrush.ai/auth for authentication information.]  Greg R. Lawson [@ConservaWonk](/creator/twitter/ConservaWonk) on x 3035 followers Created: 2025-07-24 20:58:55 UTC We might have to agree to disagree on this. While I certainly believe historic, neo-imperial nostalgia motivated Putin, US actors ranging from the Serbia bombing by NATO without a UN Security Council resolution, unilateral ABM withdrawal, missile defense efforts in Poland, the Iraq War, & NATO expansion, especially the George W. Bush effort to bring in Georgia & Ukraine, inflamed Russian paranoia & contributed to Putin seeking better relations with China as a hedge. True, Russia & China were already improving relations even before Putin, but an actual axis coordinating explicitly anti-Western action came mostly after the series of events I describe above. It seems difficult to conclude those had no impact on Putin's strategic thinking. Whether he made the right move for Russia's long-term interest, I would agree with you I'm saying probably not. But, it didn't just happen either. US actions mattered. I have long maintained that the US needed to consider a different European security architecture in the immediate post-Cold War period. Something like a variation of the post-Napoleonic Concert of Europe. That may be pie in the sky thinking, but it really was not tried. Even Kennan prophesied much of the Russian reaction when Yeltsin was still in power, at least officially. XX engagements  **Related Topics** [ukraine](/topic/ukraine) [george w](/topic/george-w) [george w bush](/topic/george-w-bush) [iraq](/topic/iraq) [poland](/topic/poland) [stocks defense](/topic/stocks-defense) [withdrawal](/topic/withdrawal) [serbia](/topic/serbia) [Post Link](https://x.com/ConservaWonk/status/1948488087954174073)
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Greg R. Lawson @ConservaWonk on x 3035 followers
Created: 2025-07-24 20:58:55 UTC
We might have to agree to disagree on this.
While I certainly believe historic, neo-imperial nostalgia motivated Putin,
US actors ranging from the Serbia bombing by NATO without a UN Security Council resolution, unilateral ABM withdrawal, missile defense efforts in Poland, the Iraq War, & NATO expansion, especially the George W. Bush effort to bring in Georgia & Ukraine, inflamed Russian paranoia & contributed to Putin seeking better relations with China as a hedge.
True, Russia & China were already improving relations even before Putin, but an actual axis coordinating explicitly anti-Western action came mostly after the series of events I describe above.
It seems difficult to conclude those had no impact on Putin's strategic thinking.
Whether he made the right move for Russia's long-term interest, I would agree with you I'm saying probably not.
But, it didn't just happen either.
US actions mattered.
I have long maintained that the US needed to consider a different European security architecture in the immediate post-Cold War period. Something like a variation of the post-Napoleonic Concert of Europe. That may be pie in the sky thinking, but it really was not tried.
Even Kennan prophesied much of the Russian reaction when Yeltsin was still in power, at least officially.
XX engagements
Related Topics ukraine george w george w bush iraq poland stocks defense withdrawal serbia