I get the reasoning but I think both the US and Russia are wrong here. The underlying assumption here is that the interests of great powers and their security goes ahead of the interests and security of smaller countries. Ukraine has no less right to secure their borders and safety than Russia.

And if Mexico felt threatened by the US they should have had the right to join a military alliance hostile to the US as well. The idea that somehow the US gets to decide Mexican or Canadian foreign policy is antiquated imperialism.

It may be true that the US follows a double standard, but the rest of us doesn’t really care because we are neither Russia nor the US and we believe we are entitled to our own foreign policy and seek safety and security for our lands.

Frankly my key objection to NATO is that the US is member. I think a European or EU based defense alliance would have put Russia more at ease. Russia knows Europe is mostly done with power politics, but the same cannot be said about the US and it is their main old foe.

Having Russia and the US on each side all the time is causing more problems then solutions. Yet I am happy the US is there to help Ukraine right now. Norway he US has amazing military hardware which will help them a lot. But it may not have come tot his of the US had had a smaller role in this conflict in the first place. I am pretty sure Putin would have stomached Ukrainian EU membership better than NATO membership.