What this article is illustrating is that what is going on now in Ukraine is, in part, the result of a thirty-three year history of broken promises and careless, greed propelled decisions made by the US and NATO.
Well, true but only part of the truth. There was good a reason that Eastern European countries wanted to join NATO, and then NATO allowed them to join by responding to their requests. And that reason was because they wanted safety guarantees from the threat of the expansion of the Russian Empire and its zone of influence and control. After a quick "honeymoon" of Gorbachev and early Eltsin liberal periods, it became obvious that the Russian society and political landscape shifted from liberal agenda back to nationalistic and imperialistic agenda in the nineties. The leaders of the leading political parties, such as Communists, Zhirinovsky's party, Putin and his party, became preaching the old nationalistic narrative of "restoring the Great Russian Empire". It was obvious for the Eastern European countries, including Ukraine, that Russia is again after them, so they quickly ran under the umbrella of NATO for safety reasons. So, turning the tables again, it was exactly the rise of the Russian imperialistic agenda that fueled the expansion of NATO.
Just to give some historical background, there has been a dispute and socio-political competition going on between the "Westerners" and "Slavianophiles" for more than a few centuries among intellectuals and political elite in Russia. The philosophy of Westerners was that Russia belongs to Europe and the right developmental path for Russia is to join Europe in its socio-political and economic development, including the adaptation of democracy and liberal values. The Slavianophiles argued that Russia, by its culture, historical and religious background, does not belong to Europe and has its own unique socio-political trajectory and needs to adhere to it and avoid melting with the European community. Such famous figures as Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsin actually belonged to Slavianophiles. There is too much content and background behind the Slavianophiles agenda to elaborate here, but in my personal opinion Slavianophiles definitely have their valid points. However, there is a serious flaw in their agenda, which is Russian Imperialism. Slavianophilism is not just an idea of a unique developmental path for Russia, it is based on the idea of a "special spiritual and cultural mission" of Russia, the idea of "Russia the third Rome", the "Russian World", a Great Russian Empire with a mission to not only develop on its own along this path, but expand and bring other nations along with it. In the minds of Slavianophiles the Great Russia can only be the Great Russian Empire that includes a plethora of satellite nations. In a way it is similar to the American "liberal hegemony" agenda of the expansion of the liberal democracy over the entire world. But for Russia with its constant economic and socio-political troubles this is a completely futile agenda because no other nations want to join the "Russian World" under the Russian umbrella on their own will and become part of the Russian Empire (with the exception of may be Belorussians). This "unique Russian cultural path" may be very authentic for Russians, but would be completely alien for other nations surrounding Russia with different cultural backgrounds. What such nations as Buddhist Bashkirs or Islamic Chechens have in common with Russian culture? Absolutely nothing.
In my personal opinion, the right developmental path for Russia would be sort of "Slavianoplilism stripped from Russian Imperialism". Slavianophiles need to abandon their imperialistic expansive agenda and focus on the development of Russia as a sovereign country along its unique socio-cultural path. A good example of such path is India - a democracy with unique cultural background that does not follow liberal or any other political agendas alien to their culture, and does not join any military or political alliances, as well as does not try to expand into an empire and pull other countries under its zone of influence. Unfortunately, currently in Russia nobody even considers such possibility, and the society and the political landscape are stuck in the centuries-old conflict between Westerners and Imperialistic Slavianophiles, with neither of them willing to change and adapt to realities.
Also, for anyone interested, here is Alexander Dugin, a prominent Russian Slavianophilist philosopher. You can clearly sense here the imperialist geopolitical agenda behind his political philosophy justifying the war in Ukraine
Alexander Dugin speaking on the Ukraine conflict
