Why did we have 500,000 men in Vietnam? Why did we have hundreds of thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan for twenty years? When did Vietnam or Iraq (not Saudi Arabia) attack Kansas? Off hand guess, in the last hundred years 90% of soldiers actually fighting are NOT warding off invaders of the motherland. But to your point, the number one reason Putin is doing this is because Ukraine was possibly going to become a NATO member. I don’t know if you’re old enough to remember the Warsaw Pact. If you are, would Mexico becoming a Warsaw Pact member in 1980 satisfy your prerequisite for the US Army to fight aggressively? Same difference. For that matter, why do we still have NATO after Reagan destroyed the Warsaw Pact? I know if I were a Russian and the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact were 30 years dead, I’d be asking that question.
You do know that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are now NATO members, right?
And all were ruled by Russia for centuries, only having their freedom for 20 years between the world wars.
They all border Russia.
In fact, the NATO Naval Base (it is in Estonia, but as part of NATO follows under them) in Tallin is less than 200 miles from downtown St. Petersburg (second largest city in Russia, and Naval HQTRs), and the border crossing at Narva only 80 miles from St Petersburg.
So that bell has already been rung.
I do appreciate your take on the Ukrainian situation regarding NATO membership, but it is not unprecedented by other countries bordering Russia, nor was membership for Ukraine a done deal in any case. Many NATO countries have been opposed to it for just this reason of Russian anger.