30 Years Ago: Which Way NATO?, Kissinger and Amb. Matlock Debate

It was generally around this moment that the post-Cold War die was cast

“There is one factor we seem to be forgetting…We gave categorical assurances to Gorbachev…That if a united Germany was able to stay in NATO, NATO would not be moved eastward.”

-US Ambassador to The Soviet Union Jack Matlock

I have my beefs with Google, which has done lots of people wrong over the years and has engaged (and continues to engage) in some seriously crony stuff. But I have to say, thank goodness for YouTube. Never in the long line of humanity have we seen such a tool for history. It’s just fantastic.

OK, with that out of the way, in the above video we see have a wonderful and very pertinent debate relative to our current moment in history. In it we see Henry Kissinger basically make a realist but also a sort of quazi-neocon case for the expansion of NATO in the wake of the death of the Soviet Union. Ambassador (to the Soviet Union 1987-1991) Jack Matlock counters with caution.

• 2:44 Q:“Where is the pressure coming from for a quick expansion of NATO?”

A: (Matlock): “Well it’s my understanding that it’s the Germans…”

This is unsurprising as the Germans have historically always looked over their shoulder at the Russians.