> For that matter Russia made it clear that Ukraine in NATO was a redline since basically forever. An interesting aside is that that cable was written by Willia

> For that matter Russia made it clear that Ukraine in NATO was a redline since basically forever. An interesting aside is that that cable was written by William Burns, current head of the CIA who was, at the time, the US diplomat to Russia. Well we moved ahead to include Ukraine in NATO, and here we are. That is not what happened. Ukraine and Georgia applied for NATO membership in 2008, but at Russian pressure, got denied. This left them without allies and allowed Russia to invade both without triggering mutual defense clauses. Burns got played. He has changed his mind since then and now argues for military aid for Ukraine, and warns about even wider war should Ukraine fall. > Now France and others are claiming they must stop Russia, implicitly even if means World War 3, because the idea of Russia being able to set military and missiles within rapid striking range (on the territory of Ukraine) would be a tremendous threat to their national security. That is reasonable and true, and it is literally the exact same thing that Russia was saying when calling Ukraine in NATO a redline. The threat is not "missiles within rapid striking range", because Russia already has nuclear missiles in Kaliningrad in the middle of the EU, closer to France than any point in Ukraine. The threat is Russia rolling over Ukraine and conscripting millions of Ukrainians into invading Poland, like they have conscripted Ukrainians from territories occupied in 2014 into fighting against Ukraine. It is better to stop Russians in Ukraine in already established battlefield than to see the war spread into the EU.