How much the world and America have changed since 1991

I just reread The End of the Cold War: 1985–1991, by British historian Robert Service, who found in the Soviet archives a conversation in January 1989 between former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, sent as the unofficial envoy of the newly elected President Bush, and Politburo member Aleksandr Yakovlev. Kissinger argued against a complete withdrawal of American military forces from Europe, suggesting that the U.S. needed to remain stationed there as "a guarantee against the adventurism of Europeans themselves" and it might be difficult for them to return if they left.

I also enjoyed being reminded that on August 1, 1991, U.S. President George H.W. Bush delivered to the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev the "Chicken Kiev speech" in which he warned Ukrainians against pursuing independence from the Soviet Union, cautioned against "suicidal nationalism" and urged them to support Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms.