How a Country Joins NATO (and Why Putin Cares)

[kentuck]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-02/russia-says-forces-captured-port-city-kherson-ukraine-update


1. Has Ukraine formally requested admission to NATO?

Yes. Ukraine applied to join in 2008. That was just before a summit in Bucharest, when NATO said that Ukraine and Georgia would join the alliance -- but without setting a specific date. Georgia has also applied for admission. So has Bosnia-Herzegovina, though there is too much domestic division there to make this a realistic prospect in the near future.

2. How many countries are in NATO?

Its membership has grown from 12 to 30 nations, with North Macedonia the most recent to join, in 2020. That increase reflects the fact that, since the end of the Cold War, NATO has come to represent an underlying partnership between North America and Europe based on shared political and economic values.

3. What does it take to join?

NATO countries have to be unanimous in welcoming a new member. Approval is pretty much a political decision, though NATO does spell out criteria that prospective new members should meet. These include a functioning democracy based on a market economy, fair treatment of minority populations and a commitment to resolve conflicts peacefully. The applicant needs to have an ability and willingness to make a military contribution to NATO operations. NATO has also made clear that having “unresolved external territorial disputes” weighs against being admitted, a consideration that gives Putin an edge, since Russian forces occupy internationally recognized parts of Georgia (Abkhazia and South Ossetia) and Ukraine (Crimea).


4. What’s the status of Ukraine’s request?

Officially, NATO stands by its 2008 pledge to admit Georgia and Ukraine once they meet the criteria, with no consensus on when that might be. Some NATO members, including Poland and Baltic states Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, would sign up Ukraine tomorrow if they could. But Germany and France in particular insist that as long as Russian troops are in Ukraine, membership is not going to happen. For now, Ukraine is one of NATO’s “enhanced opportunity partners,” a status afforded non-member nations that have “made significant contributions to NATO-led operations and missions.” NATO says it aims to maintain and deepen cooperation with such partners. Other nations with this status are Australia, Finland, Georgia, Jordan and Sweden.

[Democracy2020]

1. Torn

Like many, the situation in Ukraine has left me torn between pure abject horror and cold hard rage at what is happening to these beautiful people. I vacillate from wanting the USA to do whatever it takes militarily to make it stop, to attempting to understand why that is not the ‘right’ solution.

Unless Putin is removed from power, I fear our military involvement is inevitable. He is cornered and will use nuclear capabilities. As we await this inevitability, slaughter is unfolding before our eyes. Does anyone else see an end differently than this one?

[Bluethroughu]

2. If the Russian people move together and throw him out,

the military stand down, and the administration move against Putin...I see a victorious end for everyone.

It's definately possible.