How can the U.S. provide security guarantees to Ukraine when it is currently unable to stop Russia from attacking Ukraine?

@Heartlander
...that warranty card is in the file someplace I'm sure! Hope they kept the receipt!

@Heartlander They were conned by Barry

@Heartlander That occurred during Bill Clinton's presidency, I believe. Though it’s not relevant now. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker assured Russia that NATO would not expand "one inch eastward." However, since then, NATO has admitted more than a dozen countries, all "eastward."

In late 2021, Putin proposed a treaty with the U.S. and the EU. In December of that year, he made two phone calls to Biden. During the first call, Biden listened to Putin’s concerns about the placement of missile silos near Russia's borders and the concerns about Ukraine joining NATO. Biden indicated that if Putin was interested in reaching an agreement, the U.S. would be open to discussions.

"On 17 December 2021, during the prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia published a list of demands to the West for security guarantees in the form of two draft treaties with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United States." You can find that article on Wikipedia: December 2021 Russian ultimatum to NATO

Biden's cognitive decline had already begun to worsen significantly by that point. We know that Jake Sullivan played a key role in derailing the agreement that would have averted the war. On that second phone call, Biden reneged on the deal and decided he would talk tough to Putin. He later bragged about warning Putin, "If you take any action, I will respond with maximum sanctions and I will cripple your economy." Maybe he was reminiscing on his days with Corn-Pop, only Putin was no Corn-Pop. Although he did have Zelenskyy to rub on his hairy legs.

@Jokersswild If I recall correctly, missile launchers just across the Black sea from Russia & Ukraine in Turkey and nearby in Greece were part of the motivation behind Russia trying to put missile launchers in Cuba. And while it was presented as JFK standing down Russia, it was resolved, at least in part, by the US agreeing to remove missiles from that close to Russia.

I always thought that it was the contrast between East and West Germany that motivated all of east Europe to rid itself of Russia's influence. One block west of the Berlin wall was a shining city on a hill, while one block east of the wall were the piles of rubble practically untouched since 1945. To the west was a striving economy that had left the war behind, to the east dark and frightening authorities that made it a crime just to talk about freedom. The contrast wasn't just East and West Berlin, but along the entirety of the Iron Curtain.

@Heartlander Exactly right

@nudistsueaz If you say so... but during the Cold War, Russia had the second largest economy in the world. This is a nation that transformed from the poorest country in Europe in the early 1900s to the wealthiest and most powerful in Europe by the Cold War era.