Ukraine expressed consternation over the fact that NATO has not made an overture to include the once Soviet satellite into its membership. Ukraine’s 43-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky can’t figure out why the Western Alliance would not welcome the U.S. ally, subject to so much controversy last year it resulted in the first impeachment of 74-year-old President Donald Trump. Trump asked Zelensky to dig up dirt on 78-year-old President Joe Biden and his 50-year-old son Hunter. Joe, while former President Barack Obama’s Vice President, arranged for a lucrative $83,000 a month job on a corrupt Ukrainian energy company’s board. No one in the U.S. media wanted to hear to the story because it might jeopardize Biden’s chance to defeat Trump in the 2020 campaign. Instead of investigating Biden, the press accused Trump of violating his oath of office.
Since 68-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin’s March 1, 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine has been in a state of war with the Russian Federation. Ukraine claims over 14,000 military and civilians have died in the conflict, which, only recently, threatened to annex more Ukrainian territory in the Russian-speaking sections of Donbass near the Russian border. Biden expects to attend a June 14 NATO meeting in Brussels, Belgium to recommit the U.S. to NATO, after four years of Trump asking countries to pony up more. “We understand the desire of the allies to hold a closed summit . . .but we do not understand how it is possible not to invite Ukraine,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Kuleba is well-aware Biden is due to summit for the first time with Putin in Geneva, something that would be jeopardy if Ukraine attended the NATO meeting.
Zelensky and Kuleba act completely tone-deaf when it comes to Putin and the Russian Federation. Putin has said in the strongest possible terms that Ukraine’s participation in NATO, on any level, whether full or partial membership or participation in war games, would be a red line for Moscow. When Putin talks of a red line, he’s referring to sending the Russian army into the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. Putin annexed Crimea March 1, 2014 and wouldn’t hesitate for one second annexing Donbass if there’s even a hint that Ukraine seeks to join NATO. Zelensky wants NATO to beef up its presence in the Black Sea, asking the U.S. to sponsor Ukraine’s membership into NATO. Zelensky isn’t concerned at all of sucking the U.S. into a wider war with the Russian Federation. Zelensky has been trying to coax the U.S. into a confrontation with the Russian Federation.
Zelensky’s well aware of NATO’s charter prohibiting any nation from joining if they’re actively involved with a military confrontation. Ukraine claims it’s lost over 14,000 civilians and soldiers and in the last seven years. NATO’s charter prohibits any country from joining that’s actively at war with another country. If the U.S. were to extend an invitation to Ukraine, it would trigger a military confrontation with the Russian Federation. Kuleba said he was grateful for NATO’s “constant confirmation of the open-door policy,” despite not asking Ukraine to join the Western Alliance. Zelensky and Kuleba are well-aware that NATO prohibits countries from membership when they’re actively involved in military confrontation. Any hint of NATO’s involvement in Ukraine would trigger a Russian military confrontation. Zelensky and Kuleba don’t get that NATO wants no war with Russia.
Harping on NATO to violate its own charter prohibiting membership of a country currently at war, Zelensky wants to dump onto NATO its security arrangement to fight Ukraine’s battles. Putin has been more than clear that any NATO involvement in Ukraine would result in an immediate military confrontation, with Russia annexing the Russian-speaking Donbass region in eastern Ukraine. “When we in Ukraine are accused of too slow reforms, what can we say about the adoption and implementation of the decisions of the alliance, which have been covered with dust for 13 years,” Kuleba said, expressing frustration. Ukraine thinks that if NATO gets into a war with the Russian Federation, somehow that would benefit Ukraine. But what’s obvious is the callous disregard in Kiev for world peace, far more important than Ukraine’s need to have NATO fight its battles with Russia.
Ukraine does not meet NATO’s standards for membership because it’s still at war with the Russian Federation. Any NATO involvement in Ukraine would result in more lost territory to Ukraine. No one in the Western Alliance wants to go to war with Russia to defend Ukraine’s territory. “The standard for membership,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price has not changed. NATO maintains an “open door policy” for countries that are currently not at war. Ukraine has been feuding with the Russian Federation, angry over Putin’s March 1, 2014 annexation of Crimea, but knowing that Ukraine does not meet NATO’s standard for membership. Saying the alliance has been “covered in dust” since there’s been no invitation to Ukraine, fails to meet the strict NATO membership guidelines. No one in the U.S., NATO or the EU wants to go war with the Russian Federation.
