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> Just as I don't understand the point of NATO's eastwards expansion Because these formerly Russian-occupied countries want to defend themselves from a future
by xdennis 5y ago
> Just as I don't understand the point of NATO's eastwards expansion
Because these formerly Russian-occupied countries want to defend themselves from a future Russian occupation.
You can see many comments here questioning why the west should care about Ukraine given that it's not part of NATO. Well, that's why all those countries, and more now, want to be part of NATO.
- azangru 5y ago> Because these formerly Russian-occupied countries want to defend themselves from a future Russian occupation. This explains why such countries would want to join NATO, but not why NATO would want to take them in and be committed to defending them from external aggression. Not every country that expresses an intention to join NATO is accepted. Consider that in mid-nineties, Russia, then under the pro-western president Yeltsin rather than the isolationist Putin, asked to be accepted into NATO, but was rejected [0]. So Russia — at least as it complains to the rest of the world — finds itself sitting next to a growing hostile military alliance whose main historical purpose was to confront the USSR, which no longer exists, but which Russia perceives itself to be a successor to. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/31/russia-associate-membership-nato-malcolm-rifkind-chequers-boris-yeltsin https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/31/russia-assoc...
- AnimalMuppet 5y agoYeah. As I read it, NATO expansion is not a "push" by NATO; it's a "pull" by non-NATO countries trying to join.