If we hadn’t moved NATO forward by accepting the membership of nations fearing a revival of Russian aggression, those states would now be getting the full force of Russian bullying to fall back into the sphere of Russian dominance.
Ask the Poles and Hungarians if they desire to face the Russians alone.
. . . and ask the Serbs if they want to face America alone.
Georgia has the same issue: an ethnic minority in a country that is an ethnic majority in a region of that country that wants to be independent.
The US and the Bush administration have maintained the Clintonista policy towards Kosovo, to the utter and complete shame of our country.
Russia is quite rightly asking why ethnic *Russians* should be less important to Russia than ethnic Albanians to America.
Let’s go ahead and look for a *real* reason to be upset with Russia. Russia is applying the same standard to its own people in Georgia that the US is applying to a group of Albanians in Kosovo. I just don’t see how that can possibly be a surprise to anyone.
When the USSR put missiles in Cuba, we got a bit upset. Likewise, Russia is a bit nervous having use surround them with bases.
We haven’t been very kind to some of the interests lately (which is fine, they haven’t been kind to ours), so it is inevitable that they would react this way.
Maybe you ought to read more Russian history. Russians have VERY good reasons for "feeling surrounded" considering the number of times their nation has been invaded.