A bit more complex

NATO should have been disbanded around 1990 when the Warsaw Pact was disbanded. Its stated mission to contain Communism in Europe had been fulfilled. It made and still makes the US and Turkey subsidize the defense of the other members: resulting in that a lower defense budget from them allows them to run larger welfare states while the US and Turkey can't. Then it had a huge mission creep: it was used by the US to pursue its wars in Muslim countries, knowing that they couldn't go alone and save face internationally for Afghanistan, Iraq (2003), and the rest. Now it's back to a form of its original mission, now against a non Communist, but kleptocratic, Russia. However the situation has changed from 1991. Russia re developed and returned to a powerful status from being a laughing stock while the West slept through. It was never punished when it was weak in the 1990s for the crimes of the USSR, and so Putin, who may not have shown signs of militarism initially, but come on, he is a former KGB agent; was allowed into power. This train wreck was entirely foreseeable, as were the failures in the Muslim countries.

Eventually this war will go nuclear and even if Russia doesn't reach the contiguous US because the shields work, blowing up so many bombs from both sides will cause a world massive extinction from nuclear winter even in countries the other side of the world from the proper war theater. Fortunately when we're all dead we won't care about Covid.