Not saying there is anything deceptive about the map of expansion of NATO, but it kinds leaves out all the actions by the USSR and then Russia during that time period, East German Uprising, Hungarian Uprising, invasion of Czechoslovakia, Invasion of Georgia, South Ossetia, Tajikistan, 1st and 2nd Chechen War, and now Ukraine that may have had something to do with those countries wanting in on the alliance.
Really, a long and unbroken period of Soviet domination, a brief respite, and then a nearly endless series of wars as Russia tries to reconstitute the former Soviet Republics back under the dominion of Moscow. These are not Nazis rolling into the Sudatenland to the cheers of the common people. This is some of the most brutal repression and unrestricted shelling of civilians since WWII. I remember Grozny, and I wrote a paper at the time that we hadn't seen anything like it since the Nazis laid siege to Warsaw.
All I'm saying is that everyone who is on the front bumper of both the Soviets and now the Russians either makes alliances, or they get steamrolled. If you go back through all these wars/conflicts I think you'll find that Russia wins quite a bit more than it looses, and sometimes it looses and then rebuilds, attacks again, and it wins. I may look at all of them as Slav/Russian cousins, but that isn't to say that they don't believe they are distinct people with their own cultures and languages.
I'm not arguing that it's a black and white thing, only that it is pretty damn complicated with a lot of moving parts. That, and if Russia didn't keep trying to conquer it's neighbors there wouldn't even be a reason to join NATO.
Someone (probably a US General) said of NATO when it was formed that it was to keep the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down. I admire the Russians. They are a fucking tough people descended from Vikings. I just think Putin's dreams of a restored Soviet system is dumb, and he causes a lot of problems with this never ending quest. Id rather be friends with the Russians, but they keep behaving like jackasses.