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These are fair points, but I only mentioned Annex to highlight NATO doesn't do 'Land grabs'. But I do agree, they're certainly no saints.
by bilekas 4y ago
These are fair points, but I only mentioned Annex to highlight NATO doesn't do 'Land grabs'. But I do agree, they're certainly no saints.
- tsimionescu 4y agoSure, but I also don't think that Russia fears NATO annexing their territory. If anything, the threat they fear is regime change - which NATO (or at least NATO countries) have often engaged in. And it's not just about regime change at the head of the federal government, but the possibility of inciting regime change in some of the republics which make up the federation. For example, if Ramzan Kadyrov started committing genocide in Chechnya, and if Georgia had joined NATO (which was raised as a possibility in the aftermath of the Bucharest summit of 2004, along with Ukraine), would it be unthinkable that NATO may use their close-by position to covertly support separatist rebels seeking to depose Kadyrov and declare Chechnya independent of the Russian Federation? I don't think it's at all absurd (and of course, if a genocide was taking place, I think it would in fact be a moral act to do so - balancing with the increased risk of global nuclear war).