Quote Originally Posted by drillerpie View Post
The fact that so many people (left and right) who have a problem with NATO (fair enough) think that because he is anti-NATO he must be telling the truth (mental), has probably been a source of great amusement for him.
What is "fair enough" to object about NATO? Did they force countries to join? History shows that there was resistance to former Eastern Bloc countries' applications.

Those who have a problem should at least familiarise themselves with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlargement_of_NATO

Of course Russia was upset, but where was the clamour to re-instate the Warsaw Pact?

Hungary and Czechoslovakians in the Czeck Republic have strong reasons to ask the West for protection.

Anyway if Putin succeeds in a full take over of Ukraine (otherwise known by some as Croatia ) he will have NATO on his doorstep. And he's going to find it very difficult and expensive, whether officially or otherwise, to maintain his grip on the country. As I heard on R4 the other day, countries are defined not by their shared past but by their shared vision of the future.