I agree with everything you said Bob. My point in that paragraph was not to layout my view of the situation of post-war Europe but rather the Russian view. I see NATO expansion and EU expansion not as some grand plan for domination but rather a result of the fact that the people of Eastern Europe prefer democracy and stable institutions to despotism. I have read Popper's book it's actually one of the main sources for my article(cited in the description).

So for me, I would say that I try to bring critical theory to this space of explaining history and broader human development. So I apply different lenses like geography, institutions, gender, religion, et cetera to examine societal development. All in all I think democracy fails when we settle into these historicist notions, and active participation of all citizens in vital to maintaining our democracy. Thanks for reading and thanks for your response!