It’s almost like reading an open letter in the 1990s titled “Why the Abuse Excuse is right, and conservative values aren’t.”
NATO policy from day one has been, if you ask to join NATO and ALL the existing members of the alliance agree AND the accessor countries satisfy the qualifications like not being actively at war, there’s no reason to block the process.
Russia’s CSTO has a different policy.
We don’t tell Russia who can and can’t be in CSTO, Russia can take a running jump if it thinks it can tell NATO which countries can be in NATO.
Russia, like Ukraine and Belarus, was guaranteed the right to decide its own defense strategy.
Russia, unlike the other SSRs, wanted the USSR legacy right to invade other countries.
Because Russia wanted the Stalinist conquest rights, other countries wanted to join NATO.
By invading Crimea, Chechnya (twice), Georgia once, and Ukraine, Putin has proved we were right to allow NATO to expand.
Irrespective of the pledge Baker made to Gorbachev.
Gorbachev would not have invaded Crimea, Chechnya, Georgia and Ukraine.
Putin is not Gorbachev.
Great post and good summary.