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In reply to the discussion: Russian and Ukraine troops battle in south, prompting fears that invasion has begun [View all]DetlefK
(16,533 posts)Ok:
The only NATO-members bordering Russia are Estonia and Latvia.
Finland is not member, but cooperates with NATO.
Georgia wanted to become member, but NATO said No, as not to piss off Russia.
Back under President Yulia Timoshenko, she tried to make Ukraine join NATO as fast as possible.
But that doesn't mean that NATO suddenly amasses troops at the russian border.
Russia is free to make its own offers to other countries, to build up its own alliances. What REALLY pisses off Putin is that he still regards the neighbouring countries like vassals to Russia's empire, like the US did with South America during the Cold War. There is a famous quote that goes approximately like this: "With Ukraine, Russia is an empire, without Ukraine, Russia is a country."
NATO is no military threat to Russia, because NATO's members don't have the stomach to fight an enemy of equal power. NATO however is an ideological threat to Russia, because it reduces Russia from being the bestest nation in the world, the bulwark of Christianity and morality, an empire surrounded by admiring friends, to just one more country.
What does Russia have to be proud of? Does it have great artists, great technology, great social freedoms? All Russia has is its past and its military. And NATO is a threat to those delusions of grandeur.