Not everyone is so lucky to get a second chance.
However, at the July 11-12, 2023 NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, NATO will have another chance to correct its monumental geopolitical blunder committed 15 years ago at the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania.
During the NATO summit in Bucharest, Ukraine and Georgia asked for an Action Plan for NATO Membership, but instead received a noncommittal declaration that they could become members in a undetermined future, without any precision on how to achieve it.
This encouraged Russia to invade Georgia four months later and establish Russian military bases in two Georgian regions – Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
NATO’s half-hearted response to this military affront sparked the Kremlin’s insatiable imperialist appetite to continue expanding by force.
Thus, in 2014, Russia attacked Ukraine, starting with Crimea and then the Donbass region.
NATO member countries sanctioned Russia for these gross violations of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, but could not help but continue to do business with Russia, including buying gas Russian.
Such ambivalence signaled to the Kremlin that it could be even bolder in its violations of international law and it did just that.
In December 2021, Russia provoked the United States and NATO with so-called draft peace agreements that were clearly aimed at weakening the United States and dismantling NATO.
Shortly after the United States and NATO refused to shake the paw of the Russian bear, on February 22, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly stated that the United States and NATO could conduct a preemptive strike on Russian missile systems with Ukraine as a fulcrum.
Two days later, Russia launched a fierce all-out war against Ukraine.
NATO and its member countries helped Ukraine to defend itself, while claiming that they were not involved in this war which was already having a huge negative impact in the world, including the continued risk of exposure potential to nuclear radiation due to the dangerous military maneuvers of the Russian Armed Forces in Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia.
As some pundits have poignantly said, so far NATO and its member countries have given enough help to Ukraine not to lose this war, but not enough to make it wins it.
Ukraine nonetheless stunned Western military experts by heroically defending itself and our Western values for more than 16 months and even managed to liberate more than 40% of the territories invaded by Russian armed forces since the start of the war. genocide of Russia against Ukraine.
In doing so, Ukraine shattered the lingering illusion of Russia’s invincibility. The recent Wagner Group mutiny further demonstrated Russia’s vulnerability to any remaining skeptics.
These circumstances provide NATO member countries with a unique opportunity to help Ukraine win Russia’s all-out war.
To seize this opportunity, NATO and its member countries must give Ukraine a very clear signal on the prospect and timing of Ukraine’s NATO membership, as well as meaningful security assurances, when of the next NATO summit in Vilnius. They must also provide Ukraine, without further delay, with the modern fighter jets it badly needs, including F-16s, as well as the weapons and ammunition necessary for Ukraine’s counter-offensive to succeed. in 2023 and lead to the liberation of all Ukrainian territories. It will certainly be for the greater good of all freedom-loving countries.
It is to be hoped that NATO and its member countries have learned from the past and will now show the leadership necessary to secure peace in Europe and protect our freedoms.