Vladimir Putin has made permanently barring Ukraine from joining NATO and ensuring its neutral status one of his chief announced war aims. And the armed portion of conflict between Russia and Ukraine began in earnest in the years after NATO announced an intention that one day Ukraine would be a member state — a portentous move given that the nation hosted Russia’s most important naval base, at Sevastopol.
It has been said that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is a disaster because it breathed new life into NATO, and inspired Finland and Sweden to apply for membership, which has been swiftly granted. But so far, it seems the war in Ukraine is highlighting the very problems that were undermining NATO — namely, the unwillingness of Europeans to pony up money for their own defense and a certain queasy anxiety across European capitals about the enthusiasms and foreign-policy idealism of the United States.
Comments