[elhombrelibre]

You’re the second person today who thinks the EU and NATO are the same thing. When people do that type of sloppy writing, I find it difficult to continue to read their profundities, especially if they’re a Putinista.

[PieterCasparzen]

Victoria Nuland did not mention NATO in her recent speech.

She mentioned “European Aspirations”.

$5 billion American taxpayer dollars for European Aspirations.

[Alberta's Child]

I don't know who you are referring to, but when it comes to political and policy pressures in the U.S. over the years there hasn't been any difference between the treatment of Ukraine in terms of the EU and NATO. To wit:

Thus the West collectively made a terrible mistake at the NATO summit in April 2008 by not placing Ukraine (and Georgia) on a clear path to NATO membership. Had we done so, the question of EU economic relations would doubtless have been more easily resolved. Ambiguity over Ukraine, leaving it in a no man’s land between Russia and NATO, obviously didn’t lead to Ukrainian stability, domestically or internationally. And the same vital question for Kiev’s citizens abides: Is their future with the West or Moscow?
--- John Bolton, Los Angeles Times Op-Ed, 12/3/13

This isn't some academic figure writing from an ivory tower on a university campus somewhere. Bolton is a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and was a key foreign policy figure in the Bush administration.

None of this should come as any surprise to anyone who has been following these people over the years. The expansion of NATO has been one of the biggest priorities of the "neo-conservative" movement in the U.S. government for years.