NATO isn't attacking, but they have incorporated as many former Soviet states into their club as they possibly could, and the Ukraine was due to be next. They have not engaged in hot wars per se, but in cold ones, causing Russian state officials to feel surrounded, betrayed and paranoid.

Sure, Russia has no right to invade; there are many other courses of action Putin could have taken. But he's a hot-headed, ex-KGB dictator - the only appropriate response to threats, in his eyes, is military might.

He wants to show that if you keep prodding and antagonizing the bear, eventually the bear will snap back and claw your face off.

A little diplomacy here could therefore go a long way. Yet NATO and its allies refuse to state publicly that they will cease expanding to the east....funny that, isn't it!