Atlantic Council Program Assistant Ian Hansen writes for New Eastern Europe on why the belief that NATO expansion is partially culpable for Russian aggression is flawed:
Stephen M. Walt’s recent piece praising realists highlighted their valuable prudence in a gloomy world based on a competition for power. Yet, he incorrectly made the repeated assertion that NATO expansion is partially culpable for Russian aggression.
This theoretically sound conclusion fails to acknowledge that NATO expansion has actually ensured greater security against inevitable Russian aggression by consistently filling vacuums of power. The truth remains NATO is a worthwhile Euro-Atlantic tool to make Europe whole, free and at peace.