[bryanrasmussen]

thanks, I suppose the NATO problem is that as the sole purpose of the forming of NATO was to act as a deterrent and implicit threat to the Soviet Union having a possible NATO country next to Russia itself, as opposed to having some buffer is seen as aggressive in itself?

[catlifeonmars]

Pure speculation, but maybe it’s calculated aggression based on an assumption that the west doesn’t have an appetite for war [with Russia] and will avoid doing so if possible.

[leobg]

That’s what Hitler counted on when he invaded Czechoslovakia.

[dotancohen]

And it seems that both were not incorrect.

[leobg]

How so? Hitler got away with it. The Allies declared war on him only nine months later when he also invaded Poland.

And even then, they only did it half-heartedly, and the French pretty much threw away their weapons when the first German panzers arrived. Hitler knew that he had the stronger will to fight. Had it not been for a few other factors (Churchill, Russian winter, and the Hitler's obsession with the jews), he could have taken the whole of Europe.

[dotancohen]

Exactly, Hitler was not incorrect in his assumption that the West did not have an appetite for war. He got away with it.

[leobg]

Oh, sorry. I had not seen the "not" in your original comment.

[konart]

See this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30450987