This article from Foreign Policy Association discusses the history between Russia and the United States and weighs the options that Western nations have in this conflict.
Russian foreign policy did not grow more aggressive in response to U.S. policies; it changed as a result of Russian internal political dynamics. The shift began when Putin and his regime came under attack for the first time ever.
The United States and its European allies share most of the responsibility for the crisis. The taproot of the trouble is NATO enlargement, the central element of a larger strategy to move Ukraine out of Russia’s orbit and integrate it into the West.
Putin's Russia is starting conflict for its neighbors and Ukraine's Euromaidan movement pulls it closer to its European neighbors. An overview of the situation from the Great Decisions topic page on the Foreign Policy Association website.
