Yeltsin/Putin seemed to have a legitimate desire to join NATO in the 90s/early 00s. Russia joining NATO would almost completely encircle China and allow the EU and US to station troops on the Chinese border. So it would have been a geopolitical masterstroke.
What is the explanation for why Russia didn't join NATO? Is it because China wasn't seen as a threat back then or is it simply cold war brainworms? Anyone have an explanation or readings on this?
NATO is, and has been since its conception, an anti-russian alliance. allowing Russia to join it completely defeats its purpose
Death to America