"Given Russian aggression to their neighbors, and attempts to dominate them economically and through intimidation" Last time I checked it was the EU and the USA the ones imposing economic restrictions to Russia, Syria etc. As a way of intimidation And it terms of their neighbours, why not take a look at Cuba? Did the USA not intimidate them when they did not want to obey the American fist?

(As a disclaimer, I do not support the Soviet Union or communist regimes).

"are you really all that surprised that those countries are moving away from Russia and to NATO? They were dominated by Russia once before and they'd rather not still be dominated by them."

Russia has no interest in taking control over any of the countries mentioned above, and the recent inclusion of Montenegro (a country not even related to Russia to NATO, just shows that it has nothing to do with fear from Russia, but with falling under America.

"Given that Russia is invading and annexing it's neighbors I'd say that's by and large true since America hasn't taken chunks of Canada or Mexico. So no, it's pretty clear that Russia is the villain here."

Russia annexed Crimea, a country that was part of Russia for over 200 years before the Soviet Union fell apart. It has basically been a part of Russia as long as Texas has been a part of the USA. Same with Ukraine. You fail to see that Russia is just going after their national interests the same way the USA does and would do if they were in Russia's situation. Also need I remind you that most of California, New Mexico and Texas were Mexican?

"Except for propping up North Korea, invading Afghanistan, invading their neighbors, kidnapping their citizens, violently crushing revolutions against puppet governments in eastern Europe, doing their level best to keep Assad in power before the crazies rolled in, and doing as much as possible to foment conflicts throughout the world in order to spread "the revolution" prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union."

Lybia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Chile, Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Syria, Vietnam, Korea, Nicaragua, Mexico. All of them example where the American freedom influence was exerted and completely fucked up those countries Military dictatorships, which killed civilians, kidnapped people etc. Countries that become terrorists heavens like Iraq and Lybia. And countries that where once the most stable country in the region (Syria) and became completely destroyed when the USA armed the rebels.