I think you're living in a dream world. There is a whole lot of difference between expanding alliances and trying to make the "51st state" through violent invasion. If anyone is harking back to "imperialism" it's Putin. Putin is replaying the Hitler playbook page for page now based on his bulshit excuse of what his Russian "Empire" once was. I'm happy and proud to see the whole world finaly seeing Russia and Putin as the main cause of global instability. The sooner he is dead and Russia becomes part of NATO the better the world will be. Your analysis based on the history of this conflict is wrong. This is all Putin's fault and no one else's. Europe has a right to defend itself with NATO. Any country that does not want to align itself with Putin the now proven war criminal also has that right. Now more than ever. Many are wisely, finally considering making it happen for their fully independent sovereign nations too. This is the difference between joining NATO and becoming a puppet state of Putin's Russia. He must be stoped at all costs now before he tries to take more of the world he has no right to. Russia has ELEVEN TIME ZONES! They need no more "buffer" states! I don't give a damn about what they once had.