if nato were at russian border then russia would in some ways be china's ukraine. possibly something they preferred to avoid
Also, if russia annexes Ukraine (because, remember "Ukraine doesn't exist, they all just russians") then suddenly the number of NATO members that would share the border with Russia will include Poland and Hungary (members since 1999), Slovakia and Romania (members since 2004).
I don't think it works like that; it's not Risk.
From everything I've heard thus far, Putin is afraid that NATO will prevent him from reconstituting the USSR under him.
Thank god Trump didn't succeed in effectively disbanding Nato. Imagine what Europe would look like now if that happened (as Bolton mentioned in cca 2018).
This take bothers me, it's a sound bite repeated at nauseam with no backing what so ever. As a Romanian, I kept a close watch on US politics in Eastern Europe. Nothing that Trump did was pointing to disbanding NATO, on the contrary, he increased the US presence in Eastern Europe and was tougher on Putin than Obama was. Why do you think Russia-haters Poland began to like the US so much under Trump?
https://notesfrompoland.com/2020/01/12/poland-the-only-europ...
I feel like this is like a propaganda take: he forced countries to increase NATO spending, but somehow he wanted to weaken NATO?
He wanted Germany and Europe off of Russian gas, even blocking Nord Stream2 (upsetting the Germans), but somehow he was working for Putin? Btw, Biden unblocked NS2 in his first week in office, for no good reason.
"Senior administration officials told The New York Times that several times over the course of 2018, Mr. Trump privately said he wanted to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Current and former officials who support the alliance said they feared Mr. Trump could return to his threat as allied military spending continued to lag behind the goals the president had set.
In the days around a tumultuous NATO summit meeting last summer, they said, Mr. Trump told his top national security officials that he did not see the point of the military alliance, which he presented as a drain on the United States"
I'd say ultimately whether this was some sort of good-natured negotiating tactic with European allies or not, Trump lost enough credibility that his motives are/were seriously concerning and questionable. This didn't come from nowhere.
> He wanted Germany and Europe off of Russian gas
Maybe but again I think the motives are questionable. Did he want this because he spent years antagonizing Europe and decided that it made sense for oil and natural gas companies who donated to his campaign to get in on the fun by selling American gas to Europe, or because he had a genuine concern for geopolitical interests and saw how Putin was acting? I'm sure you can understand that many don't really trust Trump or his motivations to do anything. For example, was he advocating for getting Germany and Europe off of Russian gas and on to American gas, or did he also advocate for nuclear power and renewables (both, not just one of those)?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/us/politics/nato-presiden...
That's how it got to the press: Trump is against NATO. When you watch the video you see it's more about the US is being upset that they pay for Europe's security while Germany pumps billions into Russia's gas every year.
He was right. And btw, he was not the first US president to try this (and they all failed).
But to base the whole "Trump wanted out of NATO" on some leaks from unnamed aids, while all his actions and policies were opposed to that, it just shows you want to hate Trump no matter what.
He was in power for 4 years, he didn't do 1 step to remove US from NATO, he made NATO stronger. He deployed more troops and bases in Eastern Europe, and conducted more exercises than ever before.
It also pointed out that by extension, this means that anyone in Ukraine who does not believe that they are Russian (and thus does not want to be part of Russia) is either effectively insane, or some kind of seditious traitor (I don't remember the exact way that logic went in the article at this point).
I don't know to what extent what it described is true (my guess is "somewhat, but not necessarily absolutely"), but it does seem to help explain some of what's going on.
From an economic standpoint, or the standpoint that war is bad and should be avoided this obviously looks insane to you and I. But if you have different motivations, such as you and others described, it could look perfectly rational. It's all about the parameter space you operate in that determines your actions.
(1) Ezra Klein has some fantastic podcast episodes about this - let me know if you'd like a suggestion or two
Yeah, this argument about the NATO threat is repeated ad nauseam because it superficially sounds like a reasonable justification: "they just had to defend themselves".
But even if that was true, Otto von Bismarck said it well: "Preventive war is like committing suicide out of fear of death".
Imagine an alternate universe where Ukraine joins EU and NATO and now russia faces a NATO "wall" on the west. In this alternate universe where Russia didn't initiate an aggression, the public opinion of most european countries is not particularly interested in military spending.
Compare that with this universe; the city I live in in Italy is going to build a new military base and while some people will certainly complain, the backlash won't come close to a pre-war scenario. Now even the population feel it that the rules have changed.
Effectively Putin has armed Europe to their teeth. What a perfect 4D chess move to protect Russian safety.
And seriously, I yet have to understand what is the threat that "NATO" would pose to Russia. What should they be worried about? Are they afraid that one morning NATO will invade Russia? What for? This part of the scenario is so embarrassingly hand-wavy, seemingly imbued only of reverberance of a distant past.
Or is it that Russia be afraid of Western values infecting Russia? In that case, what difference does it make how many neighbouring countries are NATO members? You can just decide to make your laws and your policies and live your life according to your chosen lifestyle (if your citizens so wish)
Or is it perhaps that Russia used to be a super power and now it isn't anymore. The greatness past now must live again. Let's reclaim our destiny and all this bullshit. This not how civilised nations should be run. This is barbaric and should stop and sadly the only reason humanity has to put up with it is the nuclear arsenal.