Much of the Russian case revolves around a particular telling of contemporary history in which the United States and its NATO allies violated an earlier promise not to expand the alliance. Since 1990, NATO’s membership has grown from 16 to 30, including movement into Eastern Europe to encompass former Soviet republics and ex-members of NATO’s former communist adversary, the Warsaw Pact. He is missing how aggression from Moscow, akin to Russia’s current troop deployments at the Ukrainian border, has often come to NATO’s rescue - injecting new life into the alliance and uniting fractious allies in moments of disarray.