So long as imperialism guides Kremlin policy, the West’s response has to be some version of containment.

But if Ukraine joins the alliance, NATO will have to engage in serious military planning in ways it did not for the Baltic states.

But Russian aggression was the impetus for the new membership bids.

Ukrainian membership in the security alliance is the only basis for a more stable relationship with Russia.

Neither Russia nor the West is going to be able secure its goals for Ukraine all by itself or without serious bloodshed. Any attempt to “win” Ukraine will almost certainly lead to the country’s collapse and de facto partition.

Russia is not a democracy. The international community should stop pretending that Russia's deteriorating domestic politics are unrelated to Russia's increasingly antagonistic and anti-American foreign policies. The same autocratic regime is responsible for both.