It’s been a mistake from the beginning to expand NATO into the former Soviet bloc countries. Do we really nee another region that benfits from our military protection so we have to spend money on their defense and they don’t? It’s a needless provocation to do this with few benefits for the US other being able to say we are the great protectors of the world. Avoiding nation building and not being the police force of the world is why I voted for Bush but once again we were lied to.
I am from NH also :) You make a good point but let me define it further in my own opinion. I think Nato/EU expansion was good but Democractic momentum had gained enough ground on it’s own by early 2000’s. The time and place we should have STOPPED was Ukraine, a source of national pride for the Russians and a stated ‘line in the sand’ on Democratic nation building (even though most Ukrainians themselves HATE Russia).