If it was up to Ukraine, the country would already have NATO membership. Ukrainian officials have been lobbying their partners in the transatlantic alliance to provide them with a clear, unadulterated path toward becoming a full member. “Ukraine is choosing the Alliance, NATO’s door is open, so it is time for an invitation to enter,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said recently. Zelensky and his advisers have influential allies in the effort; a July 5 open letter signed by a former U.S. deputy secretary of state, former NATO commanders, and a list of former U.S. ambassadors urged the alliance to “launch a roadmap that will lead clearly to Ukraine’s membership in NATO at the earliest achievable date.”
You can’t blame Ukraine for wanting to become NATO’s 32nd member. NATO is the cream-of-the-crop in terms of alliances. Members are protected by the U.S., French, and British nuclear arsenals, are given a U.S. security guarantee, and if hostilities with an adversarial power erupt, have the backing of the world’s most powerful militaries behind them. For a country that has seen some of its most beautiful cities destroyed by Russian ordnance over the last 17 months, it’s no wonder why Kyiv is fighting so hard for the upgrade.
Yet Ukraine is only one factor in the equation. The Ukrainians have the right to apply for membership, but NATO also has the right to review the application impartially, without fear or favor, based on the circumstances at the time, whether further enlargement is truly necessary for its security and with a consideration of how Russia itself might react to such a proposition.
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