This war could have been prevented.
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Congratulations, you’re the winner of the racism award for the day.
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TBF, the exact same thing happened when Ukraine gave up their nuclear weaponry.
Damn, even the US agreed with that sentiment and they still refused.
I wonder why Mr. Zelensky refuses to consider not being part of NATO, when it’s quite clear Russia would never attack them if they just stayed out of NATO.
A better question is what gave Zelensky the idea that Ukraine would ever be a part of NATO, when NATO officially privately told him that wasn’t going to happen, or that NATO would have any interest in protecting Ukraine.
Well, that’s strange. It’s almost as if NATO is an organization comprised of many individuals, one of which might have had little interest in it, but that with current events and popular interest in membership, his country could be guaranteed membership but for the ongoing war and Russia’s thinly-veiled threats of nuclear apocalypse.
Even you must admit that, given the antagonism towards Russia from NATO, they might be willing to let them in just to fuck with Moscow, no? Not that there’d be warm fuzzy feelings towards the Ukrainians, it would really just be to spit Russia.
The way NATO works is that new members must be invited into NATO by unanimous consensus. So, if there is at least one NATO member that says Ukraine won’t be invited, that means Ukraine wont’ be invited. It’s that simple.
It’s not that simple though. If that one member is anyone but the US (or possibly the UK), then the rest lean heavily on the objector until they get what they want. Veto power only exists for those powerful enough to wield it or masochistic enough to suffer decision to use it.
Sure, NATO is ultimately a US project to keep Europe in its sphere of influence. However, the leaders of European countries need to decide whether they will work in the interest of their people or the interest of their American masters.
As the fallout from the economic war intensifies everyone associated with this mess will eventually become toxic politically. I expect that we’ll see significant political changes in Europe with EU and ultimately NATO falling apart as individual countries will start pulling out from these organizations.
Yes, NATO is largely a project to keep Europe in its sphere of influence. Yes, the fallout from the sanctions will not be pretty… if this coming winter is cold, all bets are off. We could see the geopolitical magnetic poles reverse.
But don’t pretend that Russia hasn’t shat the bed with their ill-conceived adventurism. Or that it’s anything less than a grim tragedy, Putin has blood on his hands, along with everyone who either helped him do it or who had the power to stop him and didn’t try.
Can Russia manage to somehow be less toxic than the blowback from the sanctions that punish it? I suppose there are some not-impossible scenarios where this would be the case, but I wouldn’t bet on it and I definitely wouldn’t bet on it until I’ve seen a forecast showing a once-in-a-century mini-ice-age winter. Right now, for most companies and most countries, the economic impact of the sanctions are light… in the 2-7% range are what I’m reading. It’s a hefty tax, but not an insufferable one so far. I guess you have to watch the game of chicken to know for sure who will swerve first.
It’s very clear that Russia hasn’t shat the bed, and no serious experts analyzing this situation think that. Russia just showed the whole world that NATO is impotent, they strengthened their tied with China and India, and will now have an economy that’s completely out of western control. Russia is also breaking western financial system as the globally dominant system, and internationalizing the rouble. What you don’t seem to understand that around half the world supports Russia right now. It’s not Russia that’s being isolated long term, but the west.
Russia already went through far worse crashes in the 90s and 2014, if you think that the economic impact from western sanctions today is going to break Russia then I have bridge to sell you.
Well there you go. Russia’s neighbors that aren’t in Russia’s pocket don’t trust that Russia will abide by any agreements, so instead they join NATO. NATO provides them the strong guarantees they desire.
