October 28, 2016

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“We have a situation where Russia does not accept the rules in Europe, and so therefore Europe is the most unstable peace. That is different than the Cold War. They are not a status-quo power. They want to re-establish spheres of influence. Our model is Helsinki. Their model is Yalta. …We have to be realistic about how much we can achieve with Russia.

“…We have taken the moral and justifiable stance when it comes to going back to practical cooperation, to business as usual, it is simply impossible as long as they remain entrenched in Ukraine. It would be a betrayal of the Ukrainians and our principles to basically let bygones be bygones. We made that mistake – to some degree – after the Georgia war.”

– NATO’s outgoing Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on October 14. Mr. Vershbow, who held that NATO post since February 2012, is retiring. (He is being replaced by Rose Gottemoeller, U.S. undersecretary for arms control and international security.)

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