Lot’s of IR stuff in this thread:

What I am wondering is whether our eagerness to expand NATO is having more drawbacks than benefits. Russia’s weakness (which they are well aware of) is that because much of their land is currently tundra, the majority of their civilization is in the west, uncomfortably close to NATO. The Kremlin doesn’t want NATO forces within “rapid striking distance” of Moscow, which I can totally sympathize with, because I wouldn’t want Russian or CCP forces situated in Mexico. They’ve made it absolutely clear that this is a red line for them. I don’t think they particularly want to invade the Ukraine, they just don’t want the Ukraine to join NATO because they perceive that as a threat, and they’re probably going to do whatever they have to in order to stop that threat