It's been obvious for years that Putin would respond negatively, likely with violence, if the U.S. tried to bring the 'near-abroad' into NATO's web. Why does the Bush Administration have so much trouble understanding this simple concept?:
Putin, however, began to sour on the relationship as Bush promoted the inclusion of former Warsaw Pact nations in NATO and supported the elections of pro-Western governments in the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.
U.S. officials refused to accept "that the Russians do have an interest in what they call their 'near abroad,'" said a former top State Department official who requested anonymity to speak more freely. "The Russians would have differences of opinion with us, and we would not acknowledge that we had differences of opinions."
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