If NATO and the US are militarily strong enough to provide the kind of overwhelming deterrence we provided during the Cold War and the alliance is tight knit, then peace and security is assured.
Weakness and a lack of deterrence, however, is a provocative situation that makes NATO h huge danger, especially for the US.
If that weakness and lack of deterrence leads to a war the US can be drawn into a WWIII scenario by our NATO treaty obligations that could lead to nuclear weapons being used against America. This is exactly where we are heading with the Ukraine.
In fact, drawing the US into direct military action in Ukraine seems to be a primary goal of Zelensky and some of our NATO partners
There wouldn’t be a need for deterrence if Russia wasn’t a perpetually butthurt, delusional revanchist basket case that destroys every country it forces itself on.
Every country west of Russia that managed to pivot fully towards Europe without Russian interference has prospered massively.
Every country that didn’t (or couldn’t because Russia wouldn’t let them) - so ,Serbia and Hungary, Ukraine and Moldova - is dirt poor by comparison.
Compare Russian occupied Karelia, that now looks almost as derelict as Pripyat, to the towns only a few miles away that’re still in Finland. It’s absolutely obvious why Eastern Europe would rather suffer a scrofula pandemic than be dragged back into the toxic orbit of Muscovia.