"So you are saying that the 30 nations that presently are in NATO are not independent?"
Not as far as their military is concerned, no.
Do you understand that when you become a NATO country you don't get to decide your defense heads, they have to be approved by Washington.

Australia has treaties, not NATO, we don't need to seek approval from the US for who we choose as our heads of defense.
- But not that it matters, because if the US told Australia to "Go jump", Australia would ask "How high?" anyway.
Furthermore we're a core member of 5 Eyes, a collective to get around laws preventing a nation spying on its own citizens - by spying on each others citizens.
- Not to mention AUKUS the recent treaty that was made.

"Do all the NATO powers (including Poland) bristle with weapons all pointed at Moscow?"
Romania, Poland, Germany, Baltic states... yes probably.
The West wants to get rid of Putin.

Seriously, picking on China on the one side of the continent and Russia on the other.
How do you think all this is going to work out?

http://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/russian-president-putin-arrives-beijing-winter-olympics-state-tv-2022-02-04/

"Russia and China coordinated their positions on Ukraine during a meeting between their foreign ministers, Wang Yi and Sergei Lavrov, in Beijing on Thursday, the Chinese foreign ministry said."

Putin asked NATO to bar Ukraine from joining and he warned that actions would have to be taken if the US ignored its end of cold war agreements.
Are you deliberately trying to start a World War?

I'm a bit rusty on Ukraine but I can sharpen up, as I have good sources.

Crimea Votes Overwhelmingly to Join Russia
http://youtu.be/95-QItX3I5A

If I were Putin, I'd turn the gas off to Europe and Ukraine and sell the whole lot to China.

Let the whole of Europe freeze, and let it be the United States fault, for stopping the Nordstream pipeline, for waging economic war, and threatening stability in the region.

Opinions will change real fast when people are freezing to death in their beds.

Let the US deal with the mess, and let Europe enjoy higher prices when the do get their gas back.

Then, go peel off another chunk of Ukraine.
Let the Donbass region vote for self determination as permitted under UN law and then they can join the Russians they're aligned with as well.

Let the Neo-Nazi's of Svoboda and Right Sector as well as the likes of their western scumbag mates reap what they sowed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_Waffen_Grenadier_Division_of_the_SS_(1st_Galician)
These people are Neo-Nazis because they're descendants of those who were Nazi's.

"The United States has accused Moscow of a plot to fabricate an attack by Ukrainian forces that Russia could use as a pretext to take military action against its neighbour."

Hillary's favorite book is 'Rules for Radicals' by Saul Alinsky.
Part of those 'Rules' are to accuse others of doing what you are doing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_for_Radicals

I'd bet a 50/50 chance there will be a false flag event in a month
But it's likely to be conducted by US actors though, not Russian.

AC,

I find your pro-Putin stance difficult to fathom since at no point has Ukraine been approached to join NATO, and Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine has seen the unnecessary deaths of about 50 000 people and untold misery for the ethnic Russians in the east of Ukraine now residing in the ruins of the separatist area.

Secondly, the so-called promise not to advance an inch east by Baker:
1) It was in a discussion about the reunification of Germany and not the entire occupied eastern Europe.
2) It was not formalised in any document
3) It was clear in further documents that: "The U.S.S.R. was never offered a formal guarantee on the limits of NATO expansion post-1990, "John Lough, the research associate who authored the section, wrote. "Moscow merely distorts history to help preserve an anti-Western consensus at home."

Thirdly, Putin is just trying his luck hoping to trick the West into appeasement. However, I believe that Nato is quite prepared to call his bluff as the invasion of west Ukraine will not involve ethnic Russians but violently anti-Russian Ukrainians who may not be able to stop the invasion but with the 100 tonnes of shoulder-launched anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons from the US will cost Moscow a fortune in dead soldiers and destroyed equipment. With the massive sanctions that are planned, as well Russia has little to gain and much to lose.

With the huge open border between Nato countries and Ukraine, a well-armed guerilla action against the occupation forces will put Moscow in the same position as with Afghanistan that bled Russia dry and precipitated the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Well written, "shadow minister!"

Whether Putin gives the order to attack still remains to be seen, but he will have to cope with the angry sentiments of the Russian people, when thousands upon thousands of dead Russian troops are returned home. Having traveled right through Ukraine for 26 days in 2019 (just prior to Covid), I can assure you that even Russian speaking Ukrainians will put up a fierce and stiff resistance to any occupying forces.

Putin may, in the short-term, even win the war - but is that worth losing his own power, and perhaps his own life,as a consequence? Do not underestimate the will of the Ukrainian people - with or without NATO and the West - to sacrifice all, to protect Ukrainian sovereignty and independence.