These days many are claiming that there's a global conspiracy to provoke Putin into war. He was provoked by the expansion of NATO into former Soviet satellite nations. The idea is that since Putin invaded Ukraine, that justified sanctions on Russia and a change in the global financial and diplomatic order. That change is designed to neuter Russia by destroying it's economy, and in the long run destroying it's military strength. If Russia become poor they can't support a huge military anymore. Then the west can pretty much dominate them.
There's a couple problems with this. Every single Russia act of aggression against neighboring nations has come as a total surprise to the west. South Ossetia, Georgia, Crimea and now Ukraine. Each time western governments were shocked by Putin's bold military incursions. The same was true of Russian involvement in Syria. If there was a conspiracy to trigger this very behavior the west would have had propaganda campaigns and military forces at the ready to contain the Russians and limit the damage. Instead the west was completely unprepared in every way.
The other: For the sake of argument let's assume there was no conspiracy to change the world via provoking Putin. In that situation would the U.S. and other NATO members not accepted ex-Warsaw Pact nations into NATO? I think the answer is obvious.
Bottom line: you don't need any conspiracies to explain the expansion of NATO into eastern Europe. Of course it was in the west's strategic interest to contain Russia. Russia's always been extremely paranoid about the west. They've always viewed us as the enemy for historical and cultural reasons. There was never a chance we'd be allies, the rantings of pundits notwithstanding. Russia would always try to restore the buffer zone of nations under its control to the west. Containment of Russia was always the only logical policy to pursue.
Isolationism and weakness has always led to a worse war in the end, as with WWI, WWII and in the case of terrorism. On those occasions we thought we could sit back behind our borders and watch the rest of the world burn in safety. We were wrong every time. We have to relearn that lesson every generation or two. And when we did engage in restrained, intelligent military containment of the Soviets during the Cold War we beat the metastasizing cancer of global communism. With Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and terrorists, we can do the same if we have the common sense and resolve.
The second bottom line is: those who call for isolationism are just as dangerous as those who call for war. History proves this over and over. We have to see things with a clear eye. Cynicism is well warranted, but branding literally every move by the west and it's enemies 'a conspiracy!' blinds us. We need to see reality, understand history and chart a reasonable middle course. That path lies between weakness, letting evil run wild, and war, which could destroy our civilization. Containment of evil is something that, as the most powerful nation on the planet, is our duty. With great power comes great responsibility. But beyond that it's required for our own survival. Until we as a people understand this America remains in existential danger from our own ignorance and complacency. As it always was, we learn or die.
Conspiracy? Probably not. More likely some combination of ignorance and incompetence. It seems most westerners (including our politicians, diplomats, and general officer corps) do not grok the Russian national psyche at all. This is shouldn't surprise anyone, because most Europeans don't grok the American national psyche either.
We Must Walk The Middle Path Or Perish
Conspiracy? Probably not. More likely some combination of ignorance and incompetence. It seems most westerners (including our politicians, diplomats, and general officer corps) do not grok the Russian national psyche at all. This is shouldn't surprise anyone, because most Europeans don't grok the American national psyche either.