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Originally Posted by scooter

Russia is a rational actor that we treated like a whipped dog after the cold war ended. We put military bases on ground that used to be PART OF THEIR COUNTRY, gave NATO membership (an anti-Russian alliance) to countries that were also...Part of the USSR proper.... as well as former Warsaw Pact nations. All the while smiling and saying that we had no interest in hurting Russia.

You have to look at this from Russia's point of view. They have been invaded multiple times from every direction because they have no natural frontiers. It's all open ground in just about every direction. The mongols wiped them out from the east. Napoleon invaded from the west. Later, Hitler (a sworn ally) invaded and CRUSHED their country. Russia is so paranoid about their lack of defendability they conquered all of Siberia and Central Asia just to have control over their eastern frontiers. After WWII, they damn well made sure they had a buffer to the west as well in the form of the Warsaw Pact.

Now we have advanced NATO all the way to their doorstep by admitting the Baltic states, which were part of the USSR. We also may or may not have assisted a coup in Ukraine that ousted a pro-Russian government and installed an anti-Russian government. We put an airbase in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, also part of the old USSR. We put troops in Georgia, on their southern border. We put troops in Afghanistan, just south of the old USSR.

If you were Russia, how would you view this? Putin got edgy and started pushing back. Now we say that his aggressiveness has no basis and he is just a bully.... If the US had a civil war and we lost Alaska, Hawaii, Texas, California, Puerto Rico, and Florida because they became their own countries, then Russia put troops, airbases, missile defense, and nuclear capable bombers in those states, how would the US react? Especially if they said they were there to counter US aggression?

That's exactly what we've done. The US needs to look in the mirror now and again and splash cold water on our face. Just because we do something doesn't indicate it was smart, or right, because we're a big fluffy teddy bear that never has ill will towards anyone.

Great perspective. One interesting thing is to understand how maps shape our world view. Or, how our world view shapes the maps that we commonly use. The common map that we use in the US is the Mercator.. which puts us on one side of the map and Russia on the other. It also distorts as you go to the poles...so with Russia tends to look even bigger than it is. If we use a polar projection you get a true picture from the Russian point of view...and you can see how Russia would feel encircled by the US, NATO etc. just from a geographic perspective...even without history.