The whole body is sick, and Ukraine is simply the place where the abscess burst' - Medinsky on Europe November 11, 2026.
NATO expansion was always part of the plan.
Clinton rejected advice to stop turning NATO expansion into a race to the bottom ---> the current conflict.
Former President Richard Nixon sent a letter to then-President Bill Clinton in March 1994, warning of a chaotic Ukraine, "If (Ukraine) is allowed to get out of hand, it will make Bosnia look like a PTA garden party." ".
Nixon supported the oligarch class, no doubt. He rejected any policy that would prevent the looting of Russia even when he saw that Ukraine was crumbling, but he was clear, don't let Ukraine get out of control.
Ukraine collapsed economically and there was concern that the nuclear weapons were not secure.
Stephen Kinzer notes in his book "Boiling Point" that during the Senate confirmation hearings, future Secretary of State Warren Christopher initially avoided the question of NATO expansion becoming a threat to Russia, only saying it was "a very important and critical question that I don't have an immediate answer to."
Clinton's confidant and Russian spokesman, Struve Talbot, officially directed the expansion of NATO. He was a special advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the subject of the newly independent states (1993-1994). He was in contact with those who looted Russia under Yeltsin.
The Partnership for Peace (P4P) was a "holding room for members waiting for NATO membership" or a supposed alternative to NATO expansion---it was designed to dangle NATO membership against the Warsaw Pact countries while Russia struggled after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
It was Clinton who told Yeltsin that Russia was on track to become part of NATO under P4P.
Clinton told Ukraine they could become part of NATO under P4P.
It was the carrot.