Hey, anybody remember the welkin-rattling howl raised when That Ogre Drumpf™ said NATO was an outdated relic of WW2 that should be done away with, or at least ignored?

Nah, me neither.

NATO did, indeed, have a purpose when it was created: To become a military barrier against a land invasion by the USSR into Europe, and slow it enough for the United States to bring its own full military strength into play. And despite all the BS that had nothing to do with the NATO mission, like the Libya excursion or the bombing of Yugoslavia, its primary reason for existence is, and always has been, as a counter to The Russian Enemy.

Therefore, Russia must be an enemy. Otherwise, there is no reason for NATO to continue to exist.

Looked at from this POV, one might even wonder if it isn’t the NATO bureaucracy itself pushing the war with Russia in order to justify its continued existence. Bureaucracies are like cockroaches – almost impossible to kill. And they will fight anybody and go to any length to survive.

Another thing I recall, from the very earliest days of his presidency, is the overture Trump made to Putin in hopes of forging a US-Russia alliance to combat Mooselimb terrorism worldwide, a truly revolutionary proposition which Putin seemed to welcome heartily. Such would have been most salutary partnership had it come to fruition for all sorts of reasons, but instead ended up speedily strangled a-borning by the Shampeachment shitshow, which at the time seemed almost to have been ginned up specifically for the purpose.