I'm sure Putin was angry about the missile shield project in 2007, but that's an insane reason to invade a country that isn't part of Nato in 2022. I've read al

I'm sure Putin was angry about the missile shield project in 2007, but that's an insane reason to invade a country that isn't part of Nato in 2022. I've read all of those arguments from the think tanks, but again NATO doesn't pick new members like some sort of playground kick ball team. New member ask to join because they feel threatened by Russia specifically. NATO could turn them down, but that's not really in the spirit of the treaty, and gives a hecklers veto to Russia. Putin's earlier speeches essentially boil down to a threat that he'll invade any neighbors who try to join a defense pact designed to protect them from Russian invasion. You could call that realpolitik, but it looks an awful lot like revanchism. I would also point out that NATO has never attacked Russia, but Russia has attacked a bunch of places that aren't part of NATO. Defending Eastern Europe from Russian invasion isn't aggression against Russia. I actually don't even like NATO or think the US should be part of it, but all Putin is doing here is using it as a pretext to capture territory. He made that perfectly clear on the eve of the invasion.