In 1992, Richard Nixon assessed the future of Russia in a remarkably prophetic interview. ‘Russia is at a crossroads’, said the former US President:
It is often said the cold war is over and the West has won. But that is only half of the truth. Communism has been defeated but the ideas of freedom are now on trial. If they don’t work, there will be a reversion not to communism but to a new despotism which would pose a mortal danger to the rest of the world. It will be affected by a virus of Russian imperialism which has been a characteristic of Russian foreign policy for centuries.
Therefore, the West and the US has a great stake in freedom succeeding in Russia. If it succeeds, then China and other communist states will follow. If it fails, the hardliners in China and Russia will get a new life. They will say it (freedom) failed so there is no reason for us to turn to democracy’.
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