- cross-posted to:
- worldnews
- cross-posted to:
- worldnews
Looks like the latest plan is to demand that Ukraine joins NATO so they can invoke article 5. I doubt that will happen because it would basically mean either going directly to war with Russia or admitting that article 5 is meaningless.
IIRC article 5 doesn’t actually demand immediate military action. It demands nato members to collectively decide on a course of action, which is collectively considered best for the defence of the member in question. Aka they could just decide to continue what they are already doing - send weapons, munitions, train terror troops, provide direct Intel and targeting data, provide airfields for jets, etc. What’s missing here that could be magically improved by nato membership? Nukes? Uniformed yankee soldiers on the ground?
That’s correct, article 5 doesn’t actually stipulate that members must engage militarily. Each country can decide on its level of support independently. However, what matters is perception. Currently, western public believes that article 5 is an ironclad guarantee that NATO members will be collectively defended. If a NATO member is left to hang, then it becomes clear that being a member of NATO doesn’t actually provide any meaningful protection. At that point NATO is exposed as the protection racket that it is.