Ask the people of Eastern Europe whether the Russians were "an improvement over the Nazis." The people I have talked to who were actually there at the time said that life under the Nazis was far better than slavery under the Soviets. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO did not intentionally expand to the East, the East flocked to NATO for protection. The fight currently being put up by Ukrainians to avoid being enslaved by Russia once again, demonstrates just how awful that occupation was, as does the assistance being offered by Poland, Estonia and Lithuania to name a few. They don't want to be reoccupied by Russia either.