{"id":204447,"date":"2022-02-07T12:00:45","date_gmt":"2022-02-07T12:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=204447"},"modified":"2022-02-02T05:29:49","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T05:29:49","slug":"ukrainian-sovereignty-means-not-joining-nato","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/02\/ukrainian-sovereignty-means-not-joining-nato\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian Sovereignty Means Not Joining NATO"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1 Feb 2022 –<\/em> Secretary of State Blinken\u2019s statement on January 26th<\/sup> was a disaster: a statement pleading for peace in Ukraine that was laden with aggression against Russia.\u00a0 The statement suffered from the lack of imagination we associate with U.S. \u00a0imperialism, and a wanton refusal to understand how and why Russia feels threatened by NATO and the USA.<\/p>\n

Ukraine is a buffer state between Russia and Germany\/Europe\/NATO.\u00a0 And we need buffer states. Buffer States are often necessary for stable peace.<\/p>\n

No less a person than the Secr\u00e9taire Permanente de l\u2019Acad\u00e9mie Fran\u00e7aise<\/em> \u2013 Madame H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Carr\u00e8re d’Encausse \u2013 commented recently that Helmut Kohl and James Baker had promised Mikael Gorbachev that NATO would not expand eastwards \u2026. which it then did, now expanded to 30 member states. Madame H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Carr\u00e8re d’Encausse was born in Russia. Her magisterial book L\u2019Empire Eclat\u00e9<\/em> described the break-up of the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

James Baker \u2013 of course – claims that he never made such a promise, but he is splitting hairs: yes, Baker did not write it down and sign it in his own blood. But the promise was made, and it was made by Baker and Kohl in order to gain acceptance for Kohl\u2019s dream for the re-unification of Germany.<\/p>\n

What NATO needs to do in February 2022, is to state clearly that Ukraine will never become a member of NATO, this anti-Russian military alliance. Blinken says that promise cannot be made? Why not?\u00a0 Don\u2019t be stupid, Blinken: that promise could be made today, by YOU!\u00a0 The USA takes no notice of its other NATO members when it suits them (look at US military actions in Afghanistan). If the USA says \u201cno Ukraine in NATO\u201d then the whole, manufactured Ukrainian crisis will be ended.<\/p>\n

Russia and the EU should become joint guarantors of Ukrainian independence. Both sides need Ukraine as a Buffer State.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The USA should stay silent, swallow its imperialist rhetoric and recognize the value of neutral buffer states.<\/p>\n

I would like to recommend people to read the interesting \u00a0Non-Zero Newsletter<\/em><\/strong> by Robert Wright, a knowledgeable political commentator with a clear head.<\/p>\n

He wrote a creative article dated February 1st<\/sup> about the United States, the United Nations and International Law, under the title Turning Ukraine into a Turning Point: defusing Cold War II is possible and could be a beginning.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Taking international law seriously requires looking at the world in a particular way. And this view of the world is very different from the view presented to Americans by their foreign policy establishment\u2014by think-tanks, politicians, national security officials, and by journalists at the media outlets that obligingly amplify these voices (The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, CNN, MSNBC, The Atlantic, The New Yorker<\/em>, and so on).<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to say that all these people have been filling your head with lies. To lie is to distort reality on purpose, with conscious intent to deceive, and I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what\u2019s happening here. In fact, for present purposes, I don\u2019t even want to say that these people distort reality (though I think most of them do, if unintentionally).<\/p>\n

I just want to say that these people shape the perceptions of Americans in ways that make it hard, as a political matter, to bring America consistently into compliance with international law\u2014and thus hard to create a foundation for real international cooperation, for true global community. The American foreign policy establishment conveys a world view that is in some ways the opposite of the world view you need to have if you\u2019re going to champion international law. That\u2019s why\u2014assuming your views have been shaped by the establishment I just described\u2014I want to try to turn your world upside down.<\/p>\n

They go on to use \u2013 as an excellent example of America distortion of world reality – \u00a0the Syrian Civil War that started in 2011, a war that the US and Russia and many other countries later got involved in, arguing that the prevailing American view of that war is deeply at odds with the logic of international law.<\/p>\n

Amen !<\/p>\n

If you have eyes to read, then please read.
\nIf you have a mind to think, then please rethink your pre-conceptions.<\/p>\n

__________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> <\/em>Robin Poulton, <\/em>Chevalier de l\u2019Ordre Royal du Sahametrei (Cambodia), Chevalier de l’Ordre National (Mali),<\/em> is a member of the TRANSCEND Network<\/a> who has been working in West African peace and development since 1980. <\/em>An International Peace Consultant and founder of EPES Mandala Consulting Ltd., former Weapons-for-Development advisor to EU-ASAC, <\/em>researcher with UNIDIR Geneva <\/em>(United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research)<\/em>, <\/em>School of World Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, West Africa Research Association and elsewhere, he is author most recently of <\/em>Peace Is Possible about peace building and disarmament in Cambodia with the Khmer Rouge. <\/em>Website<\/em>: <\/em>https:\/\/robinpoulton.com\/<\/a><\/em>. Email: <\/em>poultonrobin@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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