Securing Peace in Europe

Stephan Kieninger has done a splendid job of examining U.S. policy towards the former Soviet Union during the eight years of President Bill Clinton's administration and setting this in the context of the remarkable career of Strobe Talbott, the one-time translator and prominent journalist who became Clinton's most influential adviser on foreign affairs. This book is crucial for anyone wanting to understand how U.S. foreign policy developed after the Cold War ended. -- Mark Kramer, Harvard University Kieninger offers an insightful account of American policy toward Russia, Ukraine, NATO and the Kosovo crisis during the turbulent 1990s, told from the perspective of Strobe Talbott, President Bill Clinton's key advisor on those issues. This rich history explains U.S. hopes for building a post-Cold War European security architecture and why the Russia piece fell short. -- Steven Pifer, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Kieninger offers fresh perspectives on the evolution of Europe's post-Cold War security system and America's role in it, taking Strobe Talbott's prism to analyze the ups and downs in the process. This nuanced and deeply researched book investigates how the Clinton Administration sought to include Russia at every stage. Essential reading for anyone with an interest in the vexed search for a new NATO-Russia relationship after the end of the Cold War. -- Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger, former chairman of the Munich Security Conference (2008-2012) Kieninger highlights the crucial role Strobe Talbott played in seeking to integrate post-Soviet Russia into Western structures and create a European security architecture in which Russia had a stake. Essential reading for understanding why these policies ultimately failed and how Putin’s rise to power doomed Talbott’s important efforts to engage Moscow. -- Angela Stent, author of <i>Putin's World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest</i>