LOS ANGELES.–Meeting next week for the 75th anniversary of NATO in Washington, D.C., Ukraine’s 46-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky will try to inflame his current war with Kremlin asking for fast-track NATO membership. Zelensky knows that any NATO membership would escalate the war, not move it to the peace table. Russian President Vladimir Putin, 71, has been very clear that NATO membership with Ukraine would be a formula for perpetual war yet that doesn’t stop Zelensky from pushing. “We have to step back and applaud everything Ukraine has done in the name of reform of the last two-plus years,” an unnamed NATO official said. Outgoing NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will tell Zelenksy that he needs more work on fixing corruption before Ukraine could be considered for membership. But no one in NATO wants to take on the Russian Federation.
Zelensky seems tone-deaf to the reality of the Ukraine War with the Kremlin. Not only has it damaged U.S.-Russian relations, it’s put the European Continent on a war footing with Poland and the Baltic States concerned about a future Russian invasion. Zelensky keeps telling the EU that war-ravaged Ukraine, wholly dependent on U.S. government largess for arms-and-cash, defends European Democracy. EU officials know that NATO, not Ukraine, defends EU democracy, doesn’t need to be gaslighted by Zelensky as an excuse to get NATO membership. “As they continue to make those reforms, we want to commend them, we want to talk about additional steps that need to be taken, particularly in the area of anti-corruption. It is a priority for many of us around the table,” said the unnamed source. If that’s not a slap to Zelensky, what more would be?
Ukraine has been accused of widespread corruption since Vice President Joe Biden became former President Barack Obama’s point-man on Ukrainian corruption. How ironic that Biden exploited the corruption to land his son Hunter and friend Devon Archer lucrative jobs on a corrupt energy company’s board, making them both millions. NATO, of course, used the corruption issue as an excuse but it’s so much more than corruption. Ukraine has suspended national elections and declared martial law since Feb. 24, 2022, the start of the Ukraine War. Whatever corruption exists in the Kiev government, it’s far eclipsed the basic disqualifying fact that Ukraine is at war with the Kremlin. Not one of NATO’s 32 members, including new members Finland and Sweden, want to go to war against the Russian Federation because of accepting Ukraine for NATO membership.
Zelensky knows if Ukraine were granted NATO membership it would upend the alliance, creating unending war with the Kremlin. Zelensky already thinks WW III has begun in Ukraine so why not spread it to the United States and EU? Talking up Ukraine’s role in fighting for democracy is pure claptrap for a U.S. and EU audience. NATO officials know there are no fair-and-free elections in Ukraine, knowing there is no democracy, only using the idea for propaganda to get Zelensky more cash-and-weapons. Zelinsky fired Ukraine Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Valeri Zaluzhnyi for saying there was only a political solution to the Ukraine conflict. How ironic that Biden’s former Joint Chiefs’ Gen. Mark Miley was pressured to retire for saying the exact same thing, saying that there was no military solution to the Ukraine War. Yet Zelensky still asks for NATO membership.
Hungary’s 61-year-old President Viktor Orban visited Zelensky yesterday to plead with him to accept 71-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ceasefire plan. Zelensky has already rejected the plan because it doesn’t meet his 10-point plan that calls for prosecuting Putin as a war criminal. Orban tried to reason with Zelensky but it’s clear as long as he gets U.S. cash-and-weapons he has no incentive for ending the conflict. Zelensky’s worst fear is 78-year-old former President Donald Trump plan to pull the plug on Ukraine’s funding. Trump wants Zelensky and Putin to agree to an immediate ceasefire and enter real negotiations to resolve the conflict. Fearing a loss of U.S. cash, Zelensky wants to keep the war going as long as possible. Biden has shown he has no real plan in Ukraine other than feeding the war machine, throwing taxpayer cash down a rat hole.
Admitting Ukraine to NATO now or in the future would be a disaster for the alliance. Ukraine has no economic base to fund its own NATO membership without receiving the cash from the U.S. and EU. Zelensky talks a good game about defeating the Russian Federation but only if the U.S. and EU foots the bill. Meanwhile, U.S.-Russian relations are worse than any time during the Cold War, all because Biden thinks he can defeat the Kremlin. Everyone has told Biden it’s a losing proposition but he persists feeding Ukraine, against Putin’s objections, cash-and-weapons to battle the Russian Federation. As long as Biden funds proxy war in Ukraine, he can expect no cooperation with Russia on a host of cooperative venture, including future prisoner swaps, or, more importantly, managing hot spots around the globe, like commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Indfoofoots the bill
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
