Excellent piece Doug.. I’m always puzzled by the way most experts, including our negotiators, speak of declining or deferring Ukraine’s NATO membership as obviously off the table. Sez who? I can see why Ukraine’s independence might be, but what is its quest for NATO membership is treated as sacrosanct. “On that, Nato cannot yield” Brian Atwood writes, without further elaboration, as if this is totally obvious. Nato expansion was not much debated in the 90’’s but it was somewhat and serious people (George Kennan, Daniel Moynihan) thought it ridiculous. Given the likely downside of pushing Ukraine’s right to join Nato (sanctions which harm everyone’s economy, possibly war, which could spiral out of control but even if not, pushing a renewed Sino-Soviet alliance) why can’t Ukraine’s NATO membership be discussed?
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