[semihsalihoglu]

I think this article isn't very stimulating but here's a good summary of the case made by many "realists" about international relations on why Ukraine's entry into NATO and the US-NATO's encouragement of this was destined to lead to a war by one of the most prominent realists, John Mearsheimer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrMiSQAGOS4&t=2751s.

[rat87]

That article is terrible and Mearsheimer is now a laughingstock. Not just because he was totally wrong with his claims about Russia and Ukraine, but because he refuses to admit it.

Note that realism isn't about being realistic but is an ideology/methodology for predicting other nations actions and deciding what actions to take yourself. It involves simplifying nations because realism believes conflict is about about power and ignores ideology, nationalism, politicians personal whims and the will of the people.

[sillywalk]

From George Kennan, author of the Cold War containment doctrine:

Writing in 1997 at age 92, he declared that expanding NATO to the east “ would be the most fateful error of American policy in the entire post-cold-war era.”

“Such a decision,” he went on, “may be expected to inflame the nationalistic, anti-Western and militaristic tendencies in Russian opinion; to have an adverse effect on the development of Russian democracy; to restore the atmosphere of the cold war to East-West relations.”

[mytailorisrich]

This war has so far indeed played very well into the US' hands so realistically/cynically/machiavellianly(?) one may imagine that they were actually trying to make it happen.