Originally Posted by
HIFLYR
Was it a factor as Putin said or a excuse? Only really no one knows except Putin and his inner circle.
That is Hubcapped's whole point. How can NATO be viewed objetively as a threat especially against a nuclear power? As the Excargodog bot has said ad nauseum Europe's NATO countries have not funded their militaries adequately to defend themselves much less to pose an offensive threat to Russia and NATO militaries have never attacked/invaded Russia. It's obviously an excuse.
Originally Posted by
HIFLYR
Why is comparing Mexico and China not a parallel? Just because we view NATO as a defensive only allied group, doesn't mean Putin or Russians view it that way!
Europe and its proximity to Russia is quite different from North America and China. China is a dictatorship growing increasingly confrontational and NATO represents freedom loving democracies (with a couple of relatively unimportant exceptions) that have a 75 year history of not being confrontational at least to Russia.
Again, should NATO have long ago allowed Ukraine to join NATO?