BLAST FROM THE PAST: So, allowing Putin to Dictate Foreign Policy to NATO members is the Better Choice? Caving into Despots always ends well.

LET'S lay this one out:

NATO is a Treaty Organization created to protect its members from possible Foreign Invasion. (Which, at its creation, WAS THE U.S.S.R AND ITS SATELLITE PUPPET GOVERNMENTS.)

So, with the breakdown of the U.S.S.R, former IRON CURTAIN COUNTRIES SUCH AS POLAND, THE CZECH REPUBLIC, AND GERMANY joined NATO. Given the recent history of THESE COUNTRIES BEING SUBJECT TO THE TYRANNIES OF STALIN AND HITLER, allying yourself with other DEMOCRACIES for mutual protection would seem to be a NO-BRAINER.

With the recent invasion of UKRAINE BY PUTIN, it would seem to be a pretty smart move, considering the fact that the rest of the world has apparently forgotten the LESSONS LEARNED BY THE CONFLICTS OF THE 20th CENTURY.  LESSONS SUCH AS:

APPEASING OR BACKING DOWN TO SOCIOPATHIC HEADS OF STATE, WILL NOT MAKE THEM:

- MORE REASONABLE IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION.

- WILLING TO IMPLEMENT "HUMANITARIAN POLICIES."

-  PURSUE LESS AGGRESSIVE FOREIGN POLICIES THAT WILL 

ENSURE NO FURTHER DIRECT PHYSICAL INTERVENTION

INTO THE SOVEREIGNTY OF OTHER NATIONS.

Current NATO Countries and the Years They Joined:

Note: * indicates a founding member

Country	Joined		Country	Joined
Albania	2009		Lithuania	2004
Belgium	1949*		Luxembourg	1949*
Bulgaria	2004		Montenegro	2017
Canada	1949*		Netherlands	1949*
Croatia	2009		North Macedonia	2020
Czech Republic	1999		Norway	1949*
Denmark	1949*		Poland	1999
Estonia	2004		Portugal	1949*
France	1949*		Romania	2004
Germany	1955		Slovakia	2004
Greece	1952		Slovenia	2004
Hungary	1999		Spain	1982
Iceland	1949*		Turkey	1952
Italy	1949*		United Kingdom	1949*
Latvia	2004		United States	1949*

WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE ABOVE LIST, ASK YOURSELF THESE QUESTIONS:

- HOW MANY WERE FORCED BY MILITARY INVASION OR PHYSICAL INTIMIDATION

TO JOIN NATO? 

- SO NATO IS A THREAT TO RUSSIA? PERHAPS YOU CAN LIST FOR ME THE NUMBER OF

MEMBER  NATIONS THAT INVADED ANOTHER SOVEREIGN COUNTRY, AND SEIZED 

CONTROL OF ITS GOVERNMENT?

- HOW MANY OF THESE NATIONS SUFFERED THE TYRANNIES OF THE U.S.S.R,  NAZI

GERMANY, OR OTHER FASCIST REGIMES BEFORE, DURING, OR AFTER WW2, AND WILL

CLAIM THAT THEY WERE COERCED INTO JOINING?

AT THE SAME TIME, THINK OF HOW OFTEN THESE COUNTRIES SUFFERED BECAUSE OF POLICIES AND AN AGENDA DIRECTED BY A HEAD OF STATE SITUATED IN MOSCOW?

...WHAT WILL THE EXCUSE BE WHEN PUTIN DECIDES TO PUT ANOTHER COUNTRY ON HIS SHOPPING LIST, AND LIES THROUGH HIS TEETH ABOUT HOW IT WAS NECESSARY TO INVADE, TO PROTECT RUSSIA?

I REALLY SUGGEST THAT PICKING UP A HISTORY BOOK MIGHT "ENLIGHTEN" SOME WORLD LEADERS AS TO WHAT COULD BE LOST, IF WE CHOOSE TO THINK THAT THE PUTINS AND TRUMPS OF THIS WORLD CAN BE TRUSTED.