You do realize that the issue in both cases is Russia right? Russia is not a democracy. If an insane dictator puts up nukes near you it’s a very different situation. Not at all the same thing.
Hate Putin and what he's doing in Ukraine right now, but,
- How is Ukraine joining NATO different from Cuba or Mexico joining a military alliance with Russia?
- Dictatorship argument is moot since US actively supports many evil dictator and provides them with financial and military support.
- Any country is right to be scared of the US as it has invaded/destabilized many countries in the last two decades including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya.
That's exactly what I had in mind. It's not as if the US didn't have other options. Bay of pigs was US supported but it wasn't the US doing the invasion, though without US support it would have never happened.
Cuba may be one of the few examples that might have a parallel in Mearsheimer's realism model: it would be a reasonable explanation of the foreign policy position the US has towards it even today.
That said, despite how shitty the US is towards it in terms of sanctions etc., there's certainly no boots on the ground invasion by the US.
So, Guantanamo Bay became a US military base by vote? Just because the Bay of Pigs disaster didn't involve regular US troops it was a CIA operation. Nobody in his right mind would call those "unmarked" troops in Eastern Ukraine anything else than a Russian invasion force.
I would complain just as much if the USA decides to invade Cuba or Mexico. I also think that Cuba or Mexico should be free to join a military alliance with Russia.
