Dear Scott, Thanks sincerely for the fair.org article. I found some o it biased (blithely describing Russia's invasion of Donbas as "rebel movement that declared independence"--not mentioning the Russian troops and tanks the crossed the border at tat time, in violation of Russia's own pledges not to invade). The article also described the 2014 Ukraine parliament's vote that removed the President Yanukovych from office for abuse of power as a "coup." So I have to take the rest of the article with a grain of salt.

Still, a useful perspective., so thank you.

But, back to that word "provoked"-- Of course Putin felt provoked...it is hard not to when you are aggrieved at the loss of an Empire. Yes, NATO did welcome Warsaw Pact members. But NATO never made a promise not to expand. Russia claims oral promises were made....seriously? This sort of think only takes for in writing.)

Watching Russia invade Georgia, Moldavia, and be involved in other wars throughout the former Soviet Union, I would not blame Poland, The Baltic and Balkan states for wanting th security of the NATO umbrella. Russia provoked them by its invasion of other former territories. That is how it goes with provocation. I'm sur they are looking at Ukraine, and realising but for NATO, that would be their fate too.

In sum, If Ukraine wins the war and joins NATO, it will surely be due to Russia's provocation.