So as you can tell from the title, this episode looks at the motivation for the invasion of Ukraine by Stalin, I mean Putin. We mythbust the idea that poor Putin was all afraid of NATO expansion and thats why he invaded. It turns out, that it has more to do with Putin's desire to "reconstruct" the soviet empire (he actually said in 2002 that the worst geopolitical event of the 20th century was the collapse of the Soviet Union) and to get "revenge" for all the horrible things that the west has done to him. For starters, the last time NATO expanded towards the borders of Russia was 2008. So why didnt he do anything then? And after he invaded crimea in 2014, he never mentioned NATO as a motivation. So listen to find out what he said and why he is doing what he is doing.... hint.... Empire and revenge, Not NATO. Ines Gomez, my assistant, co-hosts this episode cause she had to do all the research on what Putin has said over the last 20 years on this issue. Got job Ines, and thanks so much for co-hosting!!!!