With Eliot traveling, Eric welcomes Stephan Kieninger, author of Securing Peace in Europe: Strobe Talbott, NATO and Russia After the Cold War. They discuss the role of Strobe Talbott, a close Clinton confidante and Deputy Secretary of State, in crafting Clinton’s strategy for building a “Europe whole and free” after the collapse of the Soviet Union. They cover U.S. efforts to stabilize Russia’s move toward a free market and democracy in the 1990s, the negotiation of the Budapest Memorandum, which led to the return of Soviet nuclear weapons left on Ukrainian soil after the breakup of the USSR, and the Bosnia crisis, including Talbott’s part in bringing Richard Holbrooke to lead its resolution. They examine at length Talbott’s strategy for enlarging NATO at the 1997 Madrid Summit while also negotiating a NATO-Russia agreement, offering Russia a voice, but not a veto, in European security. They close their conversation by considering the Clinton Administration’s role in supporting Russian reform efforts during the 1998 economic meltdown, the souring effect of the war in Kosovo on NATO-Russia relations, and the rise of Vladimir Putin.