Nixon on Russia, 1992

March, 1992:

Well, Russia at the present time is at a crossroads. It is often said that the Cold War is over and that the West has won. But that's only half true, because what has happened is that the communists have been defeated, but the ideas of freedom are now on trial. If they don't work, there will be a reversion, not to communism, which has failed, but to what I call a new despotism, which would pose a mortal danger to the rest of the world, because it would be infected with the virus of Russian imperialism, which of course has been a characteristic of Russian foreign policy for centuries. The West has, the United States has, all those who want peace and freedom in the world have, a great stake in freedom succeeding in Russia. If it succeeds, it will be an example for others to follow. It will be an example for China. If it fails, it means that the hard-liners in China will get a new life. They will say, it failed there. There's no reason for us to turn to democracy. That's part of what is at stake here.