While I think your first sentence is true, I think this is a consequence of being human - i.e. it's hard to be an objective observer. Remember, all these count

While I think your first sentence is true, I think this is a consequence of being human - i.e. it's hard to be an objective observer. Remember, all these countries were Warsaw Pact countries. And from my limited knowledge of the situation I recall that Russia's attempt to join NATO was basically responded with, "You have to wait your turn" as if they were just another country, not the country that the alliance was formed because of to begin with. It's kind of like the story of the prodigal son, only instead of a joyous welcome the father tells him to "wait his turn". It's also occurred to me that things like not allowing Russian athletes to fly their flag at the Olympics must be profoundly humiliating. I remember happening to see a speech a neo-con made where they called the idea of thinking of countries in terms of international citizens (and therefore the U.S. should behave like a good citizen) "crazy", but the question is, "how else should we act?" It's kind of like thinking of various universities in terms of their sports rivalries, instead of institutions of higher learning working for a common cause. In conclusion, the observation that critics think in terms of moral polarities applies equally to the criticized, and should be cold comfort.