> But that should not obscure the fact that NATO, led by Washington, laid the groundwork for confrontation with a series of missteps after the breakup of the Soviet Union, provocations that fueled Russian resentment and fears of Western encirclement. First came the ill-advised expansion of NATO in the late 1990s, which was criticized not only by the left, but by a long and impressive list of former establishment cold warriors, including George Kennan, Richard Pipes, Sam Nunn, and many more.

The endless attempts to cast Russia as the victim in any way are ridiculous. Nobody in NATO really wants Georgia or Kosovo or Ukraine in the alliance. NATO was ambivalent about many of the Eastern European countries and many in the West wondered (even up until the invasion of Ukraine) whether NATO still had a purpose.

No, they begged to be let into the castle because they feared that Russia would invade them, a fear validated over and over and over and over by how Russia treats its militarily weaker neighbors. Under both Trump and Biden (and probably even before that), Poland has been offering the United States billions of dollars if it would be willing to build a military base there. Nobody is pressuring former Soviet nations into NATO. They are desperate to get in to avoid getting mauled.