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by mopsi 19 days ago

  > Russia shouldn’t tolerate NATO troops stationed on one of its longest land borders.
There weren't any anywhere in Eastern Europe before Russia invaded Ukraine.
1 comments

Ukraine wanted to join NATO, remember?
1. Wanted in 2008, did not get an invitation, and that was the end of it. Russia invaded in 2014 because of deepening Ukraine-EU trade ties.

2. Most of Eastern Europe has been in NATO for over 20 years and has not seen any permanent stationing of "NATO troops", whatever that means. And the forces that were in Western Europe have seen dramatic decrease since the 1980s, around 5-10x across all key categories (personnel, weapons, etc). The US military is currently undergoing a review with the goal of making further reductions of their presence in Europe.