So Russia's fear is that Ukraine will join NATO and pull all western resources to start a war.
But if Russia joins NATO first the west will fight against Ukraine...
If both join NATO Russia won't have a nightmare and everyone will go home happy.
As such, it does not make sense for Russia to join nor does it make sense for the US to accept them in unless it means that Russia has essentially been subjugated by the US (nothing could be farther from the reality, of course).
NATO was originally formed to stop USSR expansion into Europe. Its predecessor was the Treaty of Brussels, of which the US was not a part of.
He tried it 20 years ago but it didn't happen. Anyhow there was a thread yesterday based on a paper by an academic on how losing Ukraine is the West's fault (in a purely pragmatic sense, not as a moral judgment).
Russia wanted closer ties to the West, then the Color Revolutions happened, then 2008, then 2014, and now we're here.
Also, this is definitely my favorite Ukraine thread right now. It's much happier than the other ones.
The mere existence of alliances like NATO or EU in which every member benefits is unthinkable to them.