But what is the conclusion we are meant to draw from the historical comparison? Accusations of belligerence have been thrown around many times in history - Soviets accusing NATO, the Allies accusing the Axis, the Axis accusing the Allies, North Korea accusing NATO, pretty much everyone accusing NATO... NATO accusing everyone else... ;) Virtually every pair of groups that don't get along exchange accusations of aggression.

In order for the comparison to be informative, it must also be accompanied by some argument about whether or not the accusations are accurate, which sort of takes us back to the original question.