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That is simply not true. No organization had the right to decide the defense strategy of the newly freed Eastern countries. And Russia itself had zero leverage,
by nickpp 5y ago
That is simply not true. No organization had the right to decide the defense strategy of the newly freed Eastern countries. And Russia itself had zero leverage, they were starving.
- sudosysgen 5y agoWell no, that's factually false. Every NATO member can deny the entry of any country in NATO. So, the US, Germany and France absolutely have the right to decide their defense strategy doesn't involve being part of NATO.
- nickpp 5y agoPlease reread my post, I never said that.
- sudosysgen 5y agoYes, you did. You said, in context, that no organisation had the right to decide the defense policy of the post Soviet states with regard to NATO. That's not true.
- nickpp 5y agoI said the Eastern countries had the right to align their defense strategy to NATO's policy and values, even if for joining they had to meet certain requirements. But the decision to apply or not was theirs and other NATO members welcomed them exactly because that was conforming to NATOs values and principles. Most tellingly, these were countries that were in a similar treaty before with Russia - the Warsaw Pact. The one that crushed the Prague Spring. They knew exactly what the difference between the two treaties were.
- icare_1er 5y agoOf course they do, that's even why Japan has been pretty much not allowed having an army for the past 80 years. It is common practice, after big wars, to negotiate what newly created states can or cannot do, this was done in Europe for centuries (Belgium, Poland were often under such constraints and used as buffer zone between empires).
- Paradigma11 5y agoAbsolutely, what was negotiated was the budapest memorandum and the paris charter. What treaty are you referring to?