The Ukraine war is being framed as the outcome of a 1990s US strategy to dominate the globe, an argument that puts blame on Washington rather than only on Moscow.

• The story of the war usually starts with the invasion, leaving out what came before it.
• A 1992 US defense plan, later pushed by the Project for the New American Century, called for expanding NATO into Eastern Europe.
• That plan treated the collapse of the Soviet Union as a chance to lock in American dominance everywhere — Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South America.
• The bet was that no rival would ever be strong enough to push back, a bet China and Russia are now testing.

Outlook: Expect this "who started it" fight over the war's history to keep shaping arguments about how much more the US should back Ukraine.