The New York Times reported on Wednesday that President Biden is under pressure from many of the US’s European allies to support giving Ukraine a clear path toward NATO membership.
NATO first pledged that Ukraine would eventually become a member in 2008, and the alliance significantly stepped up cooperation with the country following the 2014 US-backed coup in Kyiv that ousted former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. But Ukraine hasn’t been given a timeline on when it could actually join NATO.
While most NATO countries agree Ukraine cannot be granted membership while its fighting a war with Russia, some want to give Ukraine a promise it can join NATO after the war is over. Virtually all members agree that NATO must give Ukraine some sort of new pledge at the upcoming summit in Vilnius this July. What exactly that pledge will be has been the subject of intense debate.
The Times reports that for President Biden, “all the options carry considerable risks, pitting his desire not to allow any fractures to appear in NATO against his standing instruction to his staff to ‘avoid World War III.'”
The report said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other US officials have taken the position that the Biden administration will be forced to be more specific about Ukraine’s path to NATO membership even if a date can’t be agreed upon as there’s no end in sight to the war.
President Biden discussed the issue with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Washington on Tuesday. According to a US official speaking to the Times, Stoltenberg offered a compromise to Biden in which NATO would agree that Ukraine wouldn’t need to go through the standard process for aspiring members before it can join. But it’s unclear what the new process would be for Kyiv.
Ukraine is expected to receive more commitments for military aid at the Vilnius summit. One idea that’s popular among NATO allies is an Israel-style model, which would involve committing military aid for years to come without mutual defense security guarantees.
Any new NATO guarantees for Ukraine will serve to prolong the war as one of Russia’s main motives for invading was Ukraine’s alignment with NATO. In 2008, before Ukraine was first promised it would one day join NATO, then-US Ambassador to Russia William Burns, who is now President Biden’s CIA director, warned in a cable released by WikiLeaks that Ukrainian entry into NATO is the “brightest of all red lines” for Moscow.
You can’t join NATO when you might need to, so win the war against Russia and welcome aboard Ukraine. US has behaved beyond despicable in Ukraine. Escalation after escalation and no attempt at peace. Disgusting.
What else can be expected from a government that lied the USA into multiple wars? Implemented sanctions that caused the death of hundreds of thousands of children. Bombing countries and gloating that a country couldn’t fight back.
War criminals have been running US foreign policy for decades. Both political party’s are guilty.
Is Biden even running the show or is it just a bunch of hawks setting policy now? And no, we don’t need to listen to the Polish and Baltic governments. Those are insane regimes that will end up getting us sucked into World War IIII.
Report: Biden Pressures NATO to Give Clear Path to World War III
Doug McGregor said it best, when DC is losing, they might as well expand the war.
NATO is already involved in the war against Russia. Accepting Ukraine into NATO will allow NATO countries to send more of their men to Ukrainian meatgrinder. It also means a greater number of the killed and less enthusiasm among the population for supporting this war. Maybe the governments of some NATO countries can cope with it but sure not all. So the division among members of NATO looks unavoidable.
Hardly Germany, France and Italy will agree to send their soldiers to Ukraine without air support. The massive use of the air forces requires the airfields outside Ukraine which automatically will become the targets for Russian missiles. So, the full scale war between NATO and Russia looks unavoidable and, at a certain stage, the tactical nukes could be used.
What Europeans are going to fight for? The fairy tales about the need of protecting Ukrainian democracy against totalitarian Russia make no sense at all; the neo-Nazi nature of Kiev regime is too obvious to everyone. Protection of the territorial integrity of European countries is also a poor argument; no one in NATO protested against the violent change of borders in Serbia. Leaving aside the interests of MIC, it is a religious war, a crusade against Orthodox Christianity; both Serbia and Russia are Christian countries. New Ukrainian Church recently allowed the same sex marriages. Pedophilia is also not such an awful crime in The West as it used to be. Those are the values NATO is fighting for.
In other words many countries want to start WWIII.
“all the options carry considerable risks, pitting his desire not to allow any fractures to appear in NATO against his standing instruction to his staff to ‘avoid World War III'”
Hmmm, “fractures” in an obsolete and purely voluntary alliance versus risk of end of human civilization and billions of deaths … well, one must always balance things against each other, no?
Also, when the existence of an unnecessary military alliance increases risk of ww3, should that not by itself be seen as a very very good reason to end it?
Bye-Done’s focus should be on keeping all things possible, stable. We don’t need any more problems than we already have.
against his (Biden’s) standing instruction to his staff to ‘avoid World War III.’
well that’s a relief. here i was thinking that Biden’s greatest wish was to start WW3.
There’s clearly an eagerness to keep this war going after they’ve completely burned through Ukraine. NATO membership would do it. And Erdogan’s vote is doubtless for sale; but Orban’s isn’t. So NATO is out; but, there are other ways. And I think we can count on it: they’re not going to walk away, like in Nam. At a minimum they want “a frozen conflict” like Korea.
This site sees ww3 in every escalation but if Ukraine is given MAP I think we will have ww3 because then Russia will go for full mobilization and come for entire Ukraine
The Times reports that for President Biden, “all the options carry considerable risks, pitting his desire not to allow any fractures to appear in NATO against his standing instruction to his staff to ‘avoid World War III.’”
And “all options” presently lead to WW3. None contain diplomacy. So, it’s an eventuality. Something like the invasion was.
NATO’s insatiable need to expand will hopefully lead to its demise. Most of humanity has had quite enough of colonialism, economic domination, and wars of aggression that go on forever. It’s time for the Belt and Road Initiative and the BRICS nations to create a viable replacement for the petrodollar and ultimately send US troops home where they belong. This CAN happen without a nuclear holocaust if Zionism’s death wish is held in check.
“Most of humanity has had quite enough of colonialism, economic domination, and wars of aggression that go on forever.”
Several thousand years of human history suggest the opposite. The players may change, but the play will likely go on for as long as the species exists.
Several thousand years of history suggest that Aholes in charge run the show. Most ordinary people could give a rat’s behind who’s up and who’s down.
As long as the majority of humanity is willing to surrender their sovereignty to ruthless, bloodthirsty psychopaths who falsely promise to look after their wellbeing then the carnage will continue. Yes, probably as long as the species exists.
Laughable that Nato puts pressure on us
We demand nato bureaucrats to say and do what we tell them to say and do. Just a cover story as usual
Just what is a Redline ? Is it like a line in the sand or a chip on the shoulder that we dare others to cross over or knock off ? I don’t think so, to me today’s Redlines by nuclear powers are all we have to remind ourselves and others that it’s a whole new world we live in and many of us have the means to end the world as we know it. We are at each other’s mercy to not use the bomb but we in the US are well aware of the fact that humans are capable of doing the unthinkable, of using the bomb. so Redlines should be respected even if some of us can never be trusted to not use the bomb which is probably why the world is in such a mess today.