Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Putin told a number of porkies to Oliver Stone. Here is one which many who have seen the interviews (i saw some last night) would have picked up.

"Oliver Stone defended Vladimir Putin to Stephen Colbert. The audience laughed at him."

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Claim: NATO leaders promised at the time of German reunification that the Alliance would not expand to the East .. [Putin stated that unequivocally.]

Fact: No such promise was ever made, and Russia has never produced any evidence to back up its claim.

Every formal decision which NATO takes is adopted by consensus and recorded in writing. There is no written record of any such decision having been taken by the Alliance: therefore, no such promise can have been made.

Moreover, at the time of the alleged promise, the Warsaw Pact still existed. Its members did not agree on its dissolution until 1991. Therefore, it is not plausible to suggest that the idea of their accession to NATO was on the agenda in 1989.

This was confirmed by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev himself. This is what Mr Gorbachev said on 15 October 2014 in an interview with Rossiiskaya Gazeta and Russia Beyond The Headlines:

"The topic of 'NATO expansion' was not discussed at all, and it wasn't brought up in those years. I say this with full responsibility. Not a single Eastern European country raised the issue, not even after the Warsaw Pact ceased to exist in 1991. Western leaders didn't bring it up, either."
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Excerpt from .. NATO-Russia relations: the facts
Last updated: 15 Jun. 2017 16:57

http://www.nato.int/cps/eu/natohq/topics_111767.htm

Happy Father's Day to all fathers out there.