The Provocation of NATO in Ukraine

There is evidence that just prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there was significant evidence that NATO was almost pushed into the Russian throat. But I don't see that anything qualitatively changed from 2021 to 2022. There's already NATO states on the border or near and they're not imminent threats to invade or attack Russia. It doesn't matter even if it's not a provocation. The fundamental thing at stake is not the threat to Russia's national security; it's the assertion that every former Soviet republic that they possibly can is going to be incorporated into Western capitalism.