Russia moans about NATO encirclement, but it's being encircled because literally no country around it trusts Russia not to conquer them. NATO isn't a conquering

Russia moans about NATO encirclement, but it's being encircled because literally no country around it trusts Russia not to conquer them. NATO isn't a conquering alliance it's a mutual defense pact. The history of the Soviet-era is one of Russian genocide and racism towards literally every non-Russian soviet state, and millions dead in purges and legislated famines. Russia's national identity has been that it's a victim, because it helps them ignore the fact that it's a national embarrassment that a country with that much natural resources wealth has a GDP smaller than Italy. Ukraine is being invaded to the satisfy the ego and delusions of a despot who fears democracies and can't conceive of the idea of a free election. Recent events are a real good litmus test of who is worth listening to and Mearsheimer turns out to be yet another pundit running the DC track who spins happy fantasies that everything is "under control". Quote from him prior to 2022: "If you really want to wreck Russia, what you should do is to encourage it to try to conquer Ukraine. Putin is much too smart to try that". Another useless DC circuiter in the social sciences with nothing useful to say.