Re: 'Did NATO push Ukraine into war?' [Village News, Letter, 4/14/22]

First, the end of the Warsaw Pact was not caused by some promise by an American politician. It died a natural death (around 1990), along with the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the glue that held all those participating states together.

Soon thereafter, in 1992, Russia replaced the Warsaw Pact with the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which allied nine nations in a similar fashion to NATO, Russia being the leader. Russia's new strategic alignment, and solicitation of nation members automatically negated any promise that NATO couldn't expand.

Then, formerly Soviet oppressed states, obviously feeling more threat from Russia, clamored to join NATO; while Russia was courting them to join CSTO instead.

Russia was humiliated.

But Putin is just a plain old fashioned bully, looking for any excuse to pick a fight. And he's stated he aims to reunify all territory that was ever a part of Russia/USSR.

Incidentally, there are way more Russian CSTO personnel than NATO personnel at that common border.

I'm disappointed Dr. Pease couldn't stick a little closer to the facts.

https://www.britannica.com/event/the-collapse-of-the-Soviet-Union/The-end-of-Soviet-communist

https://www.nato.int/cps/us/natohq/declassified_138294.htm

And how can Dr. Pease frame Russia as being oppressed, and totally ignore Russia's ally CSTO nations, Cuba and Venezuela very close to our shores plus Russia's other alliances, China and Iran?

Good grief! Who's trying to brainwash who, anyway? And I forgot the best article on the Warsaw Pact from wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Pact.

NATO has never warred on anyone. Russia has.

Karen Swanson