The preference regarding Russia was to emphasize in previous articles that they are a capable and professional nation from a military perspective.  The fact of the matter is that they have been continually provoked and hemmed in for several decades, now.  The U.S. and its cabal are responsible for the corralling of a nation that actually intended to enter NATO.

Gorbachev agreed to the reunification of Germany (West and East) and the dissolution of the Soviet Union with the preconditioned term that it (Russia) would be able to enter NATO as a full-fledged member of the European Community.  The actions were taken: Germany reunified (the Berlin Wall fell in Nov. 1989) in 1990, and the Soviet Union "dissolved" in 1992.  Those actions were then repaid with treachery: George H.W. Bush (Bush Senior) had no intention of ever allowing the Russians to join NATO or become a U.S. ally for that matter.