This is what invading Ukraine wrott for Putin..it was that ill conceived move that pushed Finland to join NATO..and perhaps Sweden.. as for military bases, Norway is a member and has No permanent bases.

@SeaGreenEyez My imagined military invitation to Mexico will not happen, just an example.
Russia was considered an ally in the war on terror, until they accepted Syria's invitation to help and quickly blew up conveys illegally stealing Syria's oil within days, something NATO was unable to do in months. And then the demonization of Russia started in earnest. Would love to see an interview with the Skipals, but they remain hidden away. For Boris and Igor to use the cunning cover of visiting churches to assassinate a nonthreatening expat using a historic deadly nerve agent tied to the USSR........and fail just reeks of "false flag" to me as if it was true, I think the UK's response would have been more firm and justifiably so.
Remember, there is a lot of info none of us plebs are privy to. A burning question should be why was the US funding bio research labs in a country in the middle of a civil war? There is a real hatred for Russian speakers by some in Ukraine. I feel it was Putin who called the West's bluff in a way, who have long used the excuse of homeland security to justify pre-emptive strikes in sovereign nations which is Russia's excuse for Ukraine ie just following recent precedent.

@Charlene Agree with what you say but the result could well be a border loaded with missiles pointing at each other which I don't think any want.

@puff ok..What Country did the U.S have secret bioweapons labs?the "failed" attempt to assinate a Russian opposition expat is Still an attempted murder..by Putin..as for the hated of Russia..that's what 50 years of living under Soviet Communist oppression results in..

@puff it already Has lined it's borders with missiles..ask Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia..

@Charlene @SeaGreenEyez would love to get into this convo but just had a tooth pulled so will have to take a rain check, My face hurts