They did not work but they were allocated a full ration; they levied a money tribute from all the 'peasants', those who did work; they took half of t… - Anne Applebaum

[M]any have tried to describe what it feels like to endure the disintegration of one's entire civilization, to watch the buildings and landscapes of one's childhood collapse, to understand that the moral world of one's parents and teachers no longer exists and that... respected national leaders have failed. ...[N]ational failure had profound effects, especially on young people, many of whom... concluded everything... once thought true was false. ...Many ...did resemble Hannah Arendt's "totalitarian personality ...completely isolated ...who derives ...sense of having a place in the world ...only ...to ...membership in the party."

When the slow, cautious expansion eventually took place, constant efforts were made to reassure Russia. No NATO bases were placed in the new member states, and until 2013 no exercises were conducted there. A Russia-NATO agreement in 1997 promised no movement of nuclear installations. A NATO-Russia Council was set up in 2002. In response to Russian objections, Ukraine and Georgia were, in fact, denied NATO membership plans in 2008.

Before a nation can be rebuilt, its citizens need to understand how it was destroyed in the first place: how its institutions were undermined, how its language was twisted, how its people were manipulated.