Stephen F Cohen The Ukrainian Crisis - It's not all Putin's Fault 2015

The chance for a durable Washington-Moscow strategic partnership was lost in the 1990s after the Soviet Union ended. Actually, it began to be lost earlier, because it was Reagan and Gorbachev who gave us the opportunity for a strategic partnership between 1985-89. And it certainly ended under the Clinton administration, and it didn't end in Moscow. It ended in Washington--it was squandered and lost in Washington. And it was lost so badly that today, and for at least the last several years (and I would argue since the Georgian war in 2008), we have literally been in a new cold war with Russia. Many people in politics and in the media don't want to call it this, because if they admit, "Yes, we are in a cold war," they would have to explain what they were doing during the past 20 years. So they instead say, "No, it is not a cold war."

Peace was squandered to make war, especially during the Clinton years and after the 9/11 Al Qaeda attacks and Russia's support for the American Afghan Operation Enduring Freedom.