NATO has 'never been stronger' after 'Putin's misstep': historian Douglas Brinkley
According to noted historian Douglas Brinkley, Russian President Vladimir Putin may have made a huge mistake by amassing his troops on the Ukraine border as part of his campaign to possibly invade the neighboring country before it becomes a member of NATO.
Appearing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" with host Willie Geist and regular Mike Barnicle, Brinkley praised the work being done by President Joe Biden and western leaders for not looking the other way as Putin seems poised to expand his empire even if it provokes a costly war
As the historian noted, if Putin thought the members of NATO might blink at fighting back, he is currently being disabused of that notion in no uncertain terms.
"You have to humiliate Putin as being that thug and totalitarian dictator who has blood on his hands if he dares to let the tanks rumble into Kyiv and let the missiles fly that kill civilians in Ukraine, which is a peaceful nation," Brinkley said.
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"In terms of history, the way we measure history, the way you look at history, what President Biden has done in the past month, he's not looking for any cheerleading in terms of media coverage, but what he has done is something that Putin feared in his worst fears would happen, and it's happened," Barnicle claimed. "The coalition of NATO countries that he has brought together in opposition to what Putin is going to do in Ukraine is unheard of. We were talking about dismantling NATO three or four years ago, yet today NATO is showing a strength and resolve that has been absent until Joe Biden put this thing together."
"What about the lack of coverage, the lack of support for that from the other [Republican] party?" Barnicle pressed.
"Yeah, they should be behind Biden 100% now, but they're not," Brinkley replied. "They're following some [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell type of victim, 'if Biden's doing it, criticize.'"
"The truth of the matter is what you said, spot-on," he continued. "Harry Truman during the Berlin airlift in 1948 gave birth to NATO, pulling it together. Now NATO is stronger than ever because of Putin's missteps. You even have a possibility of a country like Sweden and others wanting to join NATO."
"Joe Biden so far has done a very good job, I think, of galvanizing NATO's strength and resolve, he deserves credit for that, but it's a slippery slope when you get into this media culture and you have most Republicans trying to undermine your foreign policy or at least a good chunk of them that are on the side of Russia for whatever bizarre, odd reason, " he concluded.
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