'..now is the time for NATO to start strengthening itself, and bringing in Ukraine is essential..'

'The new European security order should be based on Ukraine’s security, not Russia’s. This will require Ukraine to join NATO and the EU.'

- Why Ukraine has won the right to join NATO, April 4, 2022


'..in Vilnius, NATO should at least move beyond vague promises about Ukraine’s future and get down to the specifics of helping Kyiv join the organization. It is time for Western states to stand firm against bullies and stop giving Russia (or any other outside state) a voice in the security architecture of an organization that considers it an adversary. Instead, now is the time for NATO to start strengthening itself, and bringing in Ukraine is essential to accomplishing this task. No state, after all, knows more about how to fight back against the Kremlin. In fact, no country has more current experience fighting large-scale wars anywhere. Ukraine’s only peer is Russia itself.

..

To hold off Russia, the democratic world needs an integrated military to stop and deter the Kremlin’s aggression. NATO can be that force. But in order to do so, it needs to stop seeing Ukraine as a harassed neighbor that is trying to enter its safe house. It needs to instead recognize Ukraine for what it is: the world’s best enforcer and a state that can do much to ensure Europe’s safety. NATO, then, needs to admit Ukraine.'

'Ukraine did not always want to be part of NATO. When the country gained independence in 1991, it actively eschewed military alliances. The state’s constitution formally declared that it would be neutral, and the Ukrainian government then did not aim to build a large standing army. The Ukrainian government even disbanded its nuclear arsenal, inherited from the Soviet Union. In exchange, Kyiv signed a one-page agreement with London, Moscow, and Washington in which the signatories all promised to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty.

It was quickly clear that Moscow’s promise was meaningless. Russia began conducting covert and hybrid operations in Ukraine in the years just following the turn of the millennium. It escalated its activities, which included bribery and spreading misinformation, over the course of the aughts. As a result, the country approached NATO in 2008 and asked if it could join. In the 2008 Bucharest Declaration, the alliance gave a tentative yes. But the pathway it offered was deliberately vague. There was no timetable or deadline for Ukrainian ascension, just a promise that it would happen someday.

..

..in Vilnius, NATO should at least move beyond vague promises about Ukraine’s future and get down to the specifics of helping Kyiv join the organization. It is time for Western states to stand firm against bullies and stop giving Russia (or any other outside state) a voice in the security architecture of an organization that considers it an adversary. Instead, now is the time for NATO to start strengthening itself, and bringing in Ukraine is essential to accomplishing this task. No state, after all, knows more about how to fight back against the Kremlin. In fact, no country has more current experience fighting large-scale wars anywhere. Ukraine’s only peer is Russia itself.

And fundamentally, the West needs to accept that the threat from Russia is not going away. Russia’s imperial ambitions extend beyond just Ukraine. They go deeper than just Putin. Russia’s entire top leadership is steeped in hatred toward the West and oriented around recreating an empire. It will menace eastern Europe even if Kyiv attains a complete victory, and even if Putin is kicked out of office.

To hold off Russia, the democratic world needs an integrated military to stop and deter the Kremlin’s aggression. NATO can be that force. But in order to do so, it needs to stop seeing Ukraine as a harassed neighbor that is trying to enter its safe house. It needs to instead recognize Ukraine for what it is: the world’s best enforcer and a state that can do much to ensure Europe’s safety. NATO, then, needs to admit Ukraine.'

- To Protect Europe, Let Ukraine Join NATO—Right Now, June 1, 2023



Context

Why Ukraine must join NATO, September 9, 2021

All Nato members have agreed Ukraine will eventually join, says Stoltenberg, April 21, 2023

'..support Ukraine for as long as it takes..' - '..Ukraine .. to fight the war to a victory that it wants..' - 'Kasparov says after the war, there needs to be justice..'


(Putin's War) - 'What are Ukraine's borders? .. they’re internationally recognized and defined in 1991.' - Navalny