It's a opinion piece which repeats the same garbage that has been repeated. NATO was no threat to Russia and neither was the EU- Every apologist for Putin's land grab aggression is blathering the same propaganda.

This propaganda conveniently ignores the will of the Ukrainian people who desired greater ties west rather than be yoked to a petro-criminal state like Russia

Western policies didn't cause anything.

During the actual cold war in the 1950s- there was a term for people like Benjamin, Shane Ralston and you- Stalin's useful idiots-

Now it's Putin's useful idiots

It is PUTIN's fault- he made a choice- go to war. Plain and simple.