The quibbling of what is "defensive" aside, that's not what I said. I said the expansion since 1990s was clearly defensive, i.e. new countries were joining because they didn't want the repeat of pre/post WW2 annexations and puppetry from Russia. You know, the exact thing that's happening right now with Ukraine. None of these countries had reasons to start a war with Russia, nor would they have been able to drag NATO into starting a war with Russia.