Ukraine pushes for NATO membership, but it's complicated – DW – 12/03/2024
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Ukraine wants to join NATO immediately — at least the parts of the country that are not occupied by Russia. Kyiv says this will pave the way to peace. Can it be done?

Summary

Ukraine is pushing for NATO membership, proposing that only areas free from Russian occupation join initially. President Zelenskyy argues this could deter further Russian aggression and facilitate peace talks.

However, key NATO members, including Germany, oppose the idea, fearing it could escalate the conflict. France, Poland, and the Baltic states are more open to partial membership, while former NATO chief Stoltenberg supports fast-tracking the process.

NATO’s new Secretary General Mark Rutte prioritizes arming Ukraine over membership discussions.

U.S. policy remains uncertain, especially with President-elect Trump reportedly skeptical of Ukraine’s accession.

  • @[email protected]English
    11•1 day ago

    As inventive as Zelenskyy’s solution is, I don’t think you can ignore borders like that and ask the international community to recognize a separate, untouchable region that’s somehow distinct from the rest of Ukraine. I’m all for less restrictions on how Ukraine fights back, but I don’t have much faith this Incremental approach to joining NATO will work. I feel like if NATO wanted to or had the capacity to waive the part about joining while involved in conflict, we would have already seen something.

    • @brucethemooseEnglish
      16•1 day ago

      The entire point of NATO is to defend against Russian aggression, so waiving parts of rules seems like fair game if addressing that goal so directly.

      • @[email protected]English
        6•1 day ago

        Like I said

        I feel like if NATO wanted to or had the capacity to waive the part about joining while involved in conflict, we would have already seen something.

        You’ll have to take those concerns up with the member states. I’m not trying to espouse whats physically possible, Putin getting assassinated tomorrow is physically possible, don’t make your plans around it though. I’m trying to understand this plea in the context of who it’s made to and where we are after years of this.

        • @brucethemooseEnglish
          6•1 day ago

          I suppose there hasn’t been much urgency and thr goal of many members is ‘stability,’ but they are now facing a new reality where, according to historical precedent, there will be much less stability after Jan 20th, and there is new urgency to bend rules before then.

    • Baron Von JEnglish
      9•23 hours ago

      Zelensky isn’t really proposing for NATO to admit only part of Ukraine. He’s suggesting the existing recognized borders be admitted, but only unoccupied parts of Ukraine fall under article 5 for now. That would prevent Russia from occupying any more land and hopefully bring them to a negotiating table to peacefully return the occupied land. After which the whole of Ukraine would fall under article 5.

    • @BuffaloxEnglish
      6•1 day ago

      Of course we can if we want to.