[ETL]

They fear not being able to hit back on a first strike by the West. Russia has been attacked by the majority of their friends and neighbors. They don’t feel “safe” without MAD being in place. If you look at history, this has been a fear of theirs for 200 plus years.

What are you defending the Russians? THEY are the ones who've done the "neighbor attacking" over the past many decades.

[redgolum]

Not defending them. That is their strategic outlook. They are a VERY paranoid people, who fear their adversaries defense more than their offense. Typically because they view every war they have fought since the Golden Horde to be a defensive war.

This fear has lead to Russia doing a lot of odd and silly things in their history. By putting anti missile bases in their sphere of influence, we are feeding this traditional fear. I honestly suspect someone in the Pentagon knew this, and that was the goal. The missiles won't stop a full on Russian attack (unless their capabilities are a lot smaller than we have been led to believe), but it will get them all fired up.

Read history and strategy. Russia is acting like Russia again.