{"id":240745,"date":"2023-08-07T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T11:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=240745"},"modified":"2023-08-01T09:44:43","modified_gmt":"2023-08-01T08:44:43","slug":"requiem-for-natos-nightmare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/08\/requiem-for-natos-nightmare\/","title":{"rendered":"Requiem for NATO\u2019s Nightmare"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The dysfunction of the Atlantic\u00a0military\u00a0alliance over Ukrainian membership was just the most public manifestation of the debacle that was the Vilnius summit.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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President Volodymyr Zelensky during a memorial for fallen Ukrainian soldiers in Lviv in January.\u00a0 President of Ukraine, Public domain<\/p><\/div>\n

28 Jul 2023 – <\/em>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky emerges as a tragic figure in the unfolding drama that is the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.<\/p>\n

He was asked to sacrifice the lives of his countrymen in order to be seen by the U.S. and NATO as worthy of joining their club. But when the sacrifice did not produce the desired result (i.e., the strategic defeat of Russia), the door to NATO, which had been left open a crack to tease Ukraine into performing its suicidal task, was slammed shut.<\/p>\n

Despite NATO\u2019s disingenuous machinations to maintain the optics of potential Ukrainian membership (the Ukraine-NATO Council, created during the Vilnius Summit earlier this month, stands as a prime example), everyone knows that Ukrainian membership in the trans-Atlantic alliance is a fantasy.<\/p>\n

Ukraine is now left to pick a poison of its own choosing \u2014 accept a peace which makes permanent Russian territorial claims while forever foregoing the possibility, however distant, of NATO membership; or to continue to fight, with the likely outcome of the additional loss of territory and destruction of the Ukrainian nation and people.<\/p>\n

Robert Graves\u2019 autobiography, Goodbye to All That<\/em>, does double duty by providing a template for Ukraine as it charts the passing of Europe\u2019s old order \u2014 the U.S.-dominated NATO alliance, the European Union, the rules-based international order and all the post-World War II structures, which held the Western world together for nearly eight decades. They are all now crumbling around us.<\/p>\n

Graves\u2019 struggle to adapt to post-war England in the aftermath of the horrors of the First World War, and his observations of a nation collectively struggling to define itself, is a cautionary tale for what is in store for Ukraine.<\/p>\n

As Ukraine bids farewell to its former self, it must also part with its dreams of becoming one with a European community whose own longevity is very much in doubt. That is largely because of its disastrous involvement in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.<\/p>\n

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Ukrainian trenchline at the Battle of Bakhmut, November 2022.<\/p>\n

(Mil.gov.ua, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Ukraine will never be the same after this war ends. Neither will the NATO alliance. Having defined the proxy war it is waging in Ukraine against Russia in existential terms, NATO will struggle to find both relevance and purpose in a post-conflict world.<\/p>\n

The Vilnius summit on July 11-12 in many ways represented the high-water mark of Europe\u2019s old order. The summit was the requiem for a nightmare of Europe\u2019s own creation \u2014 the death of a nation, the nullification of a continent and the end of an order which had long ago lost its legitimacy.<\/p>\n

Strange Isolation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Watching the reporting from the Vilnius summit, I was struck by the strange isolation of Zelensky as he sought to mingle with the leaders of NATO nations that called him friend and ally but treated him and the nation he leads as anything but.\u00a0 Zelensky had pulled out all the stops to jockey Ukraine into position for NATO membership, only to be scratched at the gate.<\/p>\n

Briefed in advance of a proposed NATO communique<\/a> declaring that Ukraine would be invited to join the alliance \u201cwhen allies agree and conditions are met,\u201d the Ukrainian president was left to vent his frustration to an accommodating press only too willing to jump on the chance to flame the fires of scandal. \u201cIt\u2019s unprecedented and absurd,\u201d Zelensky bemoaned<\/a>, \u201cwhen time frame is not set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine\u2019s membership. While at the same time vague wording about \u2018conditions\u2019 is added even for inviting Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mollified after being chastised by his NATO masters<\/a>, Zelensky later changed his tune, speaking of his desire to join NATO, but in a new, non-confrontational manner. \u201cThe results of the summit have been good,\u201d Zelensky told NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during a joint press conference<\/a>, \u201cbut if we had got an invitation [to NATO], they\u2019d have been perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

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From left, U.S. President Joe Biden; Zelensky, Stoltenberg and NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana in Vilnius on July 12. (NATO, Flickr, CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Later, during a press conference with U.S. President Joe Biden, Zelensky stood mute while Biden continued to pour cold water on the prospects for Ukrainian NATO membership. \u201cWe\u2019ve just concluded the first meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council and \u2014 where all our allies agreed Ukraine\u2019s future lies with NATO,\u201d Biden said<\/a>. \u201cAllies all agreed to lift the requirements for the Membership Action Plan for Ukraine and to create a path to NATO membership while Ukraine continues to make progress on necessary reforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

One could sense the anger and frustration in Zelensky\u2019s eyes as he listened to Biden add insult to injury by calling him \u201cVladimir.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

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President Biden calls Ukrainian President Volodymyr #Zelensky<\/a>\u00a0by the first name "Vladimir" while in Vilnius, #Latvia<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/06LP18VGve<\/a><\/p>\n

— The Foreign Desk (@ForeignDeskNews) July 20, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n