Increased tensions between NATO and the Russian Federation over former Soviet states in Eastern Europe such as Ukraine is leading to calls for an increased NATO presence on the Russian border, ready to respond to any provocation from Russia. Many pundits and politicians (including Vice President Pence) suggest the United States should “respond with strength” to the Russian threat. They argue a strong defense policy serves the national interest and fosters peace and prosperity worldwide. This is already the status quo, as last week the United States deployed 4000 troops to Poland. Given the uneasy relationship the West currently has with Russia, it is time to consider a non-interventionist, non-military solution to foreign conflicts in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

It should come as no surprise that the realities of foreign conflicts are far more nuanced than a simple “good guys and bad guys” narrative. This does not stop the propagandists who maintain that NATO is a force for good in the world, standing up to aggressive, authoritarian foreign powers like Putin’s Russia. I would not call NATO an “evil empire,” as their Cold War adversary was dubbed; many of its current adversaries are indeed brutish. That said, the expansion of NATO since the end of the Cold War and its military adventurism, particularly in North Africa and the Middle East, has proven both incredibly destructive and characteristic of an empire.

I am not trying to be provocative: without the United States, there is no NATO. If the United States treats borders of foreign nations as their own, requires that member nations adopt certain policies to maintain NATO membership, and uses the territory of NATO members as staging grounds for its own military, it is an empire. If the United States has military bases in over 74 countries and tens of thousands of military personnel deployed abroad, it is an empire. NATO is a peaceful coalition to some, and a growing, existential threat to others.

While many observers accuse the Russian Federation of expansionist, aggressive foreign policy (which is valid, to an extent), NATO’s own expansionary ambitions are often overlooked or justified in the West because they are, of course, the “good guys” defending and spreading democracy. NATO’s expansion into Eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War is a powerful example of this, and a provocative and threatening development for the Russians. To illustrate my point, take a look at the maps below:

NATO has extended its reach right up to Russia’s borders. If Mexico were to enter a military alliance with Russia and subsequently amassed Russian tanks, nuclear weapons and troops near the US-Mexico border, the Pentagon (and certainly Sen. John McCain) would be in a state of panic. Facing a superior conventional military force, what the Kremlin’s response to this provocation will become is impossible to predict, but will regardless fall under the law of unintended consequences (Russia has, of course, already mobilized thousands of its own troops on their side of the border). This is not to say any violent response from Russia is justified, rather that it is imprudent to risk escalating human suffering with such a show of force.

Though denied by the West, all major political parties in Russia agree that NATO made broken promises during the process of German reunification that they would not expand into Eastern Europe. The moral legitimacy of this claim is irrelevant: When an empire stretches its borders to those of another nation, that nation will view the empire as a significant threat. This will inevitably escalate the potential for violent conflict. The goal of libertarians should be to limit state power and shrink empires, not enlarge them. As Harry Browne, former Libertarian Party presidential nominee wrote, taking into account lessons learned from the First World War: “When mutual defense treaties fail to deter wars, as they usually do, they enlarge war and make it bloodier. A mutual defense treaty easily becomes a mutual suicide pact”.

Outside of Europe, the military intervention and attempts at empire building have produced further dangers. Military intervention in Syria on behalf of the rebels and apparent unwillingness to negotiate an armistice with the Syrian government has only prolonged the conflict. Jihadist groups who also oppose Assad can continue fighting while waging a propaganda war, increasing the amount of arms and fighters flowing into the region, all culminating in an increasingly dire human catastrophe.

If you consider other Western provocations, such as the presence of NATO nuclear weapons in Turkey, whose military shot down Russian pilots in 2015, involvement in the Syrian Civil War, NATO’s growing presence in Eastern Europe and the promise to treat an attack against one as an attack against all, it is not difficult to imagine a Franz Ferdinand of the 21st Century kicking off another global conflict. This would bring any localized loss of liberties and suffering to an international scale.

There is no one unitary Russian endgame – the Russian government is made up of “doves,” internationalists concerned with economic growth and improving relations with the West, and “hawks,” who view the West as unduly provocative and see no point in trying to make concessions. A sound, liberal foreign policy would appeal to the doves by relieving sanctions, liberalizing trade and refusing to intervene militarily, not build a stronger case for the hawks by building up a troop presence on their border.

One of the greatest dangers of empire-building is the creation of new enemies every time the frontier is expanded. Western leaders would do well to remember that and opt for expanding their sphere of influence through voluntary means such as trade and charity, not military might.

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