A smart realist Todd, who thinks rationally, and critically would say, OK, these nations are European, there's no reason why they can't join the EU, improving their economies, but the Russians have their own version of our "Monroe doctrine" and in view of NATO's Cold War history and baggage, we should form new defense treaties with Eastern Europe, that doesn't include NATO. NATO was created to defend Western Europe against possible Soviet military aggression, so we will keep NATO in Western Europe and create and develop a whole new defense infrastructure and apparatus in Eastern Europe. That's the smart and reasonable, thoughtful, practical Todd.
Here is Todd the smart-realist:
" Oh OK, you Russians are telling us that we promised not to extend NATO into Eastern Europe. We're not doing that, so we kept our promise. However you should realize that these sovereign Eastern European nations have a right to join the EU economy, if the EU accepts them, and you don't have the right to stop them hence you shouldn't threaten them with war, or begin saber-rattling on their border, because if you do that, the EU with the US, will defend these nations against your unwarranted military aggression. Do you understand?"
The Russians: " Granted, however, due to our history with you, we don't want you deploying your missiles or building American military bases on our border, because if you do that, you're eliminating the strategic deterrence value of our ICBMs, placing yours way too close to ours and of course our cities.
We don't like the fact that Eastern Europe is gravitating towards the West and seeking EU membership, we would prefer those countries remain within our sphere of influence, however, we can't stop them from becoming members of the EU, hence we won't. BUT, we will not allow those countries to threaten our national security by becoming launching pads for your ICBMs or establishing an adversarial stance against us, at the expense of our strategic deterrence capabilities. Just like you wouldn't allow Russian missiles in Mexico, pointed at you or in Cuba, we don't want your missiles too close to us, here in Eastern Europe, especially on our border.."
Todd the smart-realist:
"Strategically, we don't have to arm Eastern Europe with nukes, in order to defend them, so we don't have an issue with what you're telling us. We understand what your concerns are and we will try, within reason, to address and accommodate your national security concerns.
However, it must be said, that if Russia threatens Eastern Europe militarily, without an actual, direct provocation, you will have to deal with us, and that might entail more than half a million American troops, with plenty of our best hardware deployed on your border with these countries.
You have no legitimate reason, to threaten these countries if they're not clearly, threatening you, deploying our ICBMs and allowing us to build our bases on their soil. NATO the Cold War dinosaur is never going to extend itself into Eastern Europe, it will never be on your border, hence we kept our promise to you, so you have no right to commit an act of military aggression against them."
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Now this is stupid Todd:
"We can do whatever we want in Eastern Europe, including arming all of those nations with nukes. We can extend NATO, that Cold War relic, that is inherently hostile to Russia, operationally, doctrinally, and historically, right up to Russia's border. You don't like that? Too bad, we're Americans, and we can do whatever we want, anywhere around the world. NATO is going to be right there, in your face, saber rattling, poking the bear, with tens of thousands of American troops and hardware.
OOH, Look at that, there's a president in Ukraine, who is neutral toward Russia and wants to establish and maintain friendly political and economic ties with Russia. We American imperialist, jingoist assholes, don't like that...We want Ukraine to be hostile towards Russia, so we're going to ferment anti-Russian sentiments in Western Ukraine, we're going to agitate for Russophobia, we're going to make things so volatile, that if the Russian-friendly president of Ukraine, doesn't accept the free-trade agreement with the EU, it will plunge Ukraine into civil unrest and perhaps even civil war. "
Todd's capitalist buddies in the American Military Industrial Complex:
"Todd, that's great. That way we can make tens of billions of dollars selling weapons to the US government when our cronies in Washington decide to assist Ukraine with the weapons we manufacture. That's a great idea Todd, we need as much instability and strife in Eastern Europe as possible. That's exactly what serves our vested interests in that part of the world. Keep poking the bear Todd. Hell, we might even start WWW3, hehehehe, hey that's OK, we're wealthy and have our luxury, underground bunkers, fully stocked, with 40 years worth of supplies, hence we'll survive and even thrive after the Apocalypse. "
Todd the dingleberry:
"I hate Russia, I hate it....So I don't care if the missiles start flying. I'm here in Chicago, but I'm not scared. I will hide under my desk, with my new collection of colorful pencils and erasers as I used to do in elementary school when we had nuclear war safety drills. I will be safe, and secure with my family here under the desk in Chicago. I'm Todd the Jingoist moron durrrrrrr"..
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