Let Ukraine finally Join NATO

In 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded in Washington, DC, in order to secure peace in post-war Europe, to promote cooperation among its victorious members and to guard their freedom. Today, NATO is a security alliance consisting of 31 countries from North America and Europe. It is designed to protect European allies against missile threats from outside the Euro-Atlantic area.

For decades, NATO served as an effective bulwark against soviet russia expansion. That russia has emerged as an aggressor state, leading to a destabilization of the European continent, is proof of NATO’s continued importance for both the United States and Europe as a safeguard against continued russian expansionism. In addition to the full-blown military invasion of Ukraine, the repeated serious russian provocations directed against neighboring NATO and non-NATO nations in the region and beyond endanger not only the sovereignty and territorial integrity of European allies, but the future viability of all trans-Atlantic security structures. It also disbalances the post-World War II geopolitical structure.

While russia was not openly labeled as the country that violates regional and global peace and threatens the members’ freedom, for all intents and purposes for the past seven decades and more it actually has endangered peace, security, cooperation and development throughout the region and planet.

Initially, “old” Europe and the United States and Canada became members of NATO. Then after the fall of the iron curtain, the dividing line between the righteous and dishonorable countries, the former captive nations, “new” Europe, were invited to join NATO.

Thus the stage was set for a geopolitical conundrum for the leadership of the free world.

Ukraine, since declaring independence in 1991, has been an on again, off again candidate for membership. A host of definitions and encouraging labels were devised for the process of allowing Ukraine to accede to NATO while not upsetting russia. None of them made sense considering the fact that Ukraine’s neighbors to the west were accepted as NATO members and they have been Ukraine’s staunchest supporters since their accession.

Now that russia is fulfilling its age-old mission to invade and subjugate Ukraine and imprison or annihilate the Ukrainian nation, the issue of Ukraine’s accession to NATO is once again top of mind. The russian war is killing Ukrainian men, women and children, destroying the infrastructure and ruining the environment.

The NATO members will gather in Vilnius, Lithuania, for a two-day meeting beginning tomorrow and Ukraine will be the key point on the Agenda. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, after threatening not to attend if the discussion will not be meaningful, will actually be present perhaps signaling that it won’t be a waste of time.

Undeniably, Ukraine is the most popular country on earth today. It has become the repository of the world’s latest armaments to defeat russia. And putin made it so by shedding blood across the Ukrainian landscape; by missiles strike against residential homes and pizzerias; by blowing up a dam and flooding arable land.

The loudest supporters of Ukraine’s accession to NATO are the former captive nations of russian subjugation. They know the pain of the kremlin’s captivity and they know that if Ukraine falls, they will soon fall afterward. And then “old” Europe.

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, considered by her contemporaries the Margaret Thatcher of her day, on July 4 said that NATO membership “is the only security guarantee” for Ukraine and said it is important that NATO member countries agree during their summit in Vilnius on “practical steps” on how Ukraine gets into the alliance.

It is important that during the summit members “go beyond the Bucharest wording,” Kallas said, referring to the 2008 summit declaration that offered Ukraine an opportunity to join the alliance without a concrete timetable.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance will support Ukraine for as long as necessary. “We are sending a message to putin that he will not win the war,” he clarified.  

“I think all the allies realize that Ukraine is in the middle of a war, and this is not a good time to invite it to join. But all allies understand that the door remains open, and we have demonstrated that with Finland and Sweden. All the allies realize that Ukraine will become a member, and it is up to the allies to decide when Ukraine is invited to join NATO. But most importantly, the allies understand that the most important thing now is to support Ukraine. If we don’t do that, Ukraine will no longer exist as an independent country. And if it doesn’t exist as an independent country, the question of its membership becomes meaningless,” Stoltenberg.

And so on and so forth. The Lithuanians and Poles support Ukraine’s accession to NATO.

Polish President Andrzej Duda has called on NATO member states to give Kyiv a clear roadmap to joining the defense alliance. “Ukraine is waiting for an unambiguous signal regarding a clear prospect of membership in NATO,” Duda said.

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is also urging NATO to give Ukraine a “clear path” to becoming a member of the alliance to deter further aggression by Russia and other “bad actors” who seek to destabilize Europe. In a letter prior to the NATO summit AJC CEO Ted Deutch and AJC President Michael Tichnor described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as posing a threat to democracy and the international order.

“Welcoming Ukraine into NATO would send a strong signal also to other bad actors, ranging from Pyongyang to Tehran,” the letter states. “If Western nations demonstrate unity and resolve by accepting Ukraine, it would help deter these actors as well and convey a clear message that any aggression or destabilizing behavior will be met with a strong response.”

“While critics argue that Ukraine’s NATO membership could further escalate tensions with Russia, potentially leading to more conflict, history has shown that the lack of strong action in the face of aggression only emboldens aggressors,” they wrote, “By embracing Ukraine and reinforcing its security, NATO can help deter further Russian aggression and provide a stable framework for dialogue and de-escalation.”

But, apparently, russia’s war against Ukraine, russian boots on Ukrainian land and Article 5 are scaring the allies, the staunch supporters of Ukraine from ushering Ukraine into their midst and an equal among equal partner.

“Of course, we understand it cannot happen when the war is going on. But we have to have a clear pathway [for] how Ukraine gets there,” Estonia’s Kallas opined.

Enough with the caution. Russia is incapable of fighting Ukraine’s accession to NATO.

NATO membership for Ukraine would send a powerful political message to the world, to russia, about the free world’s support for Ukraine and belief in its integrity and future, far beyond the ever important HIMARs, tanks and cluster bombs. It would tell the world that now Ukraine is a worthy candidate for members in NATO and it deserves to be a member. But more so NATO deserves such a shining new member as Ukraine, the only country on earth that in seven decades as accrued the military prowess to fight and hold at bay the former second biggest army in the world. And if those reasons aren’t enough, 89% of Ukrainians support their country’s membership in NATO.

So, temporarily suspend Article 5, agree that the free world won’t send its boys to fight and die in Ukraine, Ukrainians are doing that already for the benefit of their country and the free world. But give Ukraine full membership. Tell all regions of the world that Ukraine is worthy of membership that will preserve the 32-year-old independent, sovereign and democratic country. Show impotent, decrepit russia that it can’t dictate who can become a NATO member and who can’t.

This is the only righteous course of action for the free world, NATO, the x-captive nations, and Ukraine.