A huge part of the problem is that after the wall collapsed and the “winds of change” were blowing eastward, then really, NATO should have been shrunk in conjunction with the integration of communist bloc into the western world. That didn’t happen.
You can figure out what happened from a cursory glance at the NATO wikiepedia page in the history section:
“In the 1990s, the organization extended its activities into political and humanitarian situations that had not formerly been NATO concerns.[32] “
That says it all. Who would want to pull the plug on a baby-fed, multi-billion dollar organization/alliance?
Basically NATO’s mission became irrelevant so the organization decided to keep it self alive. NATO’s presence was supposed to shrink after the cold-war (assuming both sides had good intentions) but it is still trying to expand.
Right, because russia lost its imperial expansionist ambition. Why was Finland desperate to join NATO even though it has treaties signed with russia agreeing to respect its borders?
Its amazing to some that out of all former Soviet/russian colonies, all want to join NATO. Total mystery.