In 1991, the Cold War ended in a bloodless victory for NATO. After 70 years of a grueling, nuclear-tinged Cold War, communism was dead, Eastern Europe was free, Russia looked to the West for how to build a better, freer future for itself, and liberal democracy and capitalism reigned supreme. But in the ruins of the last war lies the seeds for the next great conflict. Floating just beneath the surface of post-Cold War international relations was the question of what was to become of NATO with the loss of the Soviet Union as a threat? Western leaders believed expansion into the former Soviet states of Eastern Europe was the natural next step. But the Russians opposed this. For 30 years, a succession of Russian leaders—from Mikhail Gorbachev to Boris Yeltsin to Vladimir Putin—warned the West that NATO's expansion into territories bordering Russia, notably into Ukraine, would trigger a violent response from Moscow. Yet, the West did not listen. Contrary to the popular narrative in the West, will show readers how Westerners created the crisis with Russia and why now innocent Ukrainians are being made to pay with their lives for the arrogance (and ignorance) of Western leaders in the post-Cold War era. Thanks to that hubris, today, the world teeters on the brink of a potential nuclear world war over the status of Ukraine.