“Absurd,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted on Tuesday.
He criticized the member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for not providing him with a timetable for Ukraine’s accession process.
“Indecision is a weakness,” he also said.
He would like Ukraine to be part of the select NATO club as soon as possible. Obviously.
But we should not confuse indecision with prudence.
NATO member countries all believe that Ukraine should become a member of the organization. But putting the cart before the horse would be irresponsible.
Caution, here, is a guarantee of safety.
Some, including US President Joe Biden, have tried to explain in recent days why it would be perilous to rush Ukraine into membership.
“We would be at war with Russia,” he said.
It is easily conceived. Under Article 5 of the organization’s charter, an attack on one member is considered an attack on all.
The other members of NATO must then take the necessary actions, “including the use of armed force, to restore and ensure security in the region”.
Canada has essentially the same position as Washington on this file, even if the way it is formulated is more ambiguous.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly repeated on Tuesday what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had already said: Canada is in favor of Ukraine joining “when conditions allow it”.
We understand that the ultimate condition is that the war has ended.
Let us insist: that is what logic dictates, even if it is not what the Ukrainians would like to hear at the moment.
On the other hand, we are not going to blame President Zelensky for raising his voice either. First, because his people are victims of “Russian terror” every day, as he put it so well.
Then, it must be admitted that Ukraine’s many allies have too often hesitated to deliver all the military equipment the country needed.
Western countries, for example, authorized the delivery of heavy tanks and fighter planes, but only after long procrastination. And this, after being hounded by the Ukrainian authorities.
We have therefore understood, in Kyiv, that insistence is fundamental in order to obtain what is necessary to repel the Russian aggressor and guarantee the security of the country. Including the coveted NATO membership.
That said, it would be wrong to accuse Canada, the United States and the other members of NATO of inertia on Ukraine’s membership file.
Even before the arrival of Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vilnius summit, they had made it known that Ukraine would benefit from a fast track to joining NATO. It was announced that the country would not have to fulfill the conditions of what is described as an action plan for membership, “which sets out a number of reform objectives”.
This controversy about the accession process should not make us forget the essential: NATO is a military alliance in great shape and the current summit allows us to confirm it.
Not so long ago, Donald Trump shook the organization’s allies by criticizing its obsolescence and threatening to withdraw from it.
From now on, NATO demonstrates its relevance a little more every day and has even just celebrated the arrival of two precious new members, Finland and Sweden.
“What we do now – or don’t do – will define the world we will live in for generations,” NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said before the start of the summit.
If he had made such comments five years ago, we would not have taken him seriously.
Who would dare to make fun of it today?
The summit is not over and we see, despite the controversy on Tuesday, that we have strengthened the alliance while promising to facilitate Ukraine’s accession.
This is bad news for Vladimir Putin.
And let’s face it: it’s a very good way to measure the success of this summit.