I don't see the article apologizing for Putin, it's simply explaining where he's coming from and why he views the West's overtures to Ukraine as such a threat to his own interests.
Like the article says, "Imagine the American outrage if China built an impressive military alliance and tried to include Canada and Mexico." To stretch the point, what if Canada held a referendum where its people voted to resign from NAFTA, join a Chinese free-trade block and offered land for Chinese bases? Do you think the US would stand by idly? Remember, we came awfully close to World War 3 when the Soviets put a few silly missiles in Cuba.
The entire thing may be a silly example of human squabble, but it was a squabble where the power to end it all, was held in the hands of a few men, not leaders of nations, but the military leaders in charge of the troops who's jobs were to handle, use and guard these weapons that could have wrought untold devastation...
Its worth remembering that 1 single man prevented the first hostile use of a nuclear weapon since WW2. Its quite likely most of us owe our lives to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov
The US had around 5000 missiles pointed at the Soviet Union; having 40 missiles pointing back in and of itself did not pose an existential threat to the US. But Kennedy & co chose to play a very public game of chicken over them, and fortunately for the world, Khrushchev blinked.
I understand that the article explains Putin's position, but explaining Putin's own reasons for his actions doesn't come anywhere close to implicating the US or Europe.
And even so, it's not the article's main focus. This is: "the United States and its European allies share most of the responsibility for the crisis."
Most of the responsibility? Really?
It would be one thing if he said "Putin's crossed the line, but the US and Europe could have played better politics to prevent this crisis." Then, maybe, he'd have a point.
But he's putting the responsibility of the invasion of a sovereign nation and the annexation of its territory with no regard for the self determination of its peoples on the shoulders of the US and Europe, which is just backwards. Mearsheimer can't make NATO responsible for Putin's thuggery, for the same reason that you can't make the twin towers responsible for 9/11.
I have to dismiss your analogy outright because clearly, Ukraine didn't get to vote to have itself invaded by Russia. If there was a whiff of credible evidence that Ukrainians en masse had a democratic desire to be a part of Putin's Russia, it would be a different story.
Like the article says, "Imagine the American outrage if China built an impressive military alliance and tried to include Canada and Mexico." To stretch the point, what if Canada held a referendum where its people voted to resign from NAFTA, join a Chinese free-trade block and offered land for Chinese bases? Do you think the US would stand by idly? Remember, we came awfully close to World War 3 when the Soviets put a few silly missiles in Cuba.