Nixon Predicts Russian Imperialism and How to Handle It

Former President Nixon predicts the rise of Russian imperialism and shares how it should be handled before it happens.

Transcript

00:00Well, Russia at the present time is at a crossroads.

00:04It is often said that the Cold War is over and that the West has won it.

00:10That's only half true because what has happened is that the communists have been defeated

00:15but the ideas of freedom now are on trial.

00:20If they don't work, there will be a reversion to not communism, which has failed,

00:25but what I call a new despotism, which would pose a mortal danger to the rest of the world

00:32because it would be infected with the virus of Russian imperialism,

00:36which of course has been a characteristic of Russian foreign policy for centuries.

00:41We begin with that.

00:42Therefore, the West has, the United States has, all those who want peace and freedom in the world,

00:48a great stake in freedom succeeding in Russia.

00:51If it succeeds, it will be an example for others to follow.

00:54It will be an example for China, for example, to follow,

00:58for the other communist states, the few that remain.

01:01If it fails, it means that the hardliners in China will get a new life.

01:07They will say, it failed there.

01:08There's no reason for us to turn to democracy.

01:10That's part of what is at stake here.