All the experts predicted that this would not end well
My stance aligns with this excerpt from an FT article three days before the invasion: "If war comes, Putin would of course deserve the blame and global opprobrium. Russia's threats are thuggish and dangerous. Yet as misguided as the Russian actions are, American intransigence regarding Nato enlargement is also utterly misguided and risky. "
George Kennan in 1998, architect of USA's containment strategy of USSR, Ambassador to USSR: "I think it is the beginning of a new cold war. I think the Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies. I think it is a tragic mistake. Of course there is going to be a bad reaction from Russia, and then the NATO expanders will say that we always told you that is how the Russians are but this is just wrong. ".
Faith Hill, Senior Director for Europe and Russia of the National Security Council warned Bush in 2008: "Putin would view steps to bring Ukraine and Georgia closer to NATO as a provocative move that would likely provoke pre-emptive Russian military action. "
Jack Matlock, Ambassador to USSR, testified before Senate in 1997: "Far from improving the security of the United States, its Allies, and the nations that wish to enter the Alliance, it could well encourage a chain of events that could produce the most serious security threat to this nation since the Soviet Union collapsed. ".
Robert Gates in 2015, Secretary of Defense under Bush and Obama: "The Russians had long historical ties to Serbia, which we largely ignored. [B]Trying to bring Georgia and Ukraine into NATO was truly overreaching.[/B] The roots of the Russian Empire trace back to Kiev in the ninth century, so that was an especially [B]monumental provocation[/B]. Were the Europeans, much less the Americans, willing to send their sons and daughters to defend Ukraine or Georgia? Hardly. So NATO expansion was a political act, not a carefully considered military commitment, thus undermining the purpose of the alliance and recklessly ignoring what the Russians considered their own vital national interests. [B]Similarly, Putin's hatred of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (limiting the number and location of Russian and NATO non-nuclear military forces in Europe) was understandable. [/B]"
Bill Burns, Ambassador to USSR, standing Director of the CIA appointed by Biden in March 2021, speaking about his Russian counterparts in 2008: "I have yet to find anyone who views Ukraine in NATO as anything other than a direct challenge to Russian interests."
Pat Buchanan prescient in his 1999 book: "By moving NATO onto Russia's front porch, we have scheduled a twenty-first-century confrontation. "
William Perry, Robert McNamara, Henry Kissinger were all against NATO eastward expansion (or the pace of it). That is two Secretary of Defense and a Secretary of State. For those that do not know, the Secretary Defense is second in the military command structure, only under the President. Secretary of State implements foreign policy and is head of the State Department.
[B]All of the above are patriots. The ones who are still alive condemn this invasion. But all have been vocal critics of their government's foreign policy (NATO expansion).[/B] American politicians have continuously ignored the advice of its top diplomats. P&P would be happy to know that one of the above mentioned, Fiona Hill more or less refers to Putin as a madman.