From: slider@anashram.com   
      
   BUCHAREST (AP) — NATO returns on Tuesday to the scene of one of its most   
   controversial decisions, intent on repeating its vow that Ukraine — now   
   suffering through the 10th month of a war against Russia — will join the   
   world’s biggest military alliance one day.   
      
   NATO foreign ministers will gather for two days at the Palace of the   
   Parliament in the Romanian capital Bucharest. It was there in April 2008   
   that U.S. President George W. Bush persuaded his allies to open NATO’s   
   door to Ukraine and Georgia, over vehement Russian objections.   
      
   “NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for   
   membership in NATO. We agreed today that these countries will become   
   members of NATO,” the leaders said in a statement. Russian President   
   Vladimir Putin, who was at the summit, described this as “a direct threat”   
   to Russia’s security.   
      
   About four months later, Russian forces invaded Georgia.   
      
   Some experts describe the decision in Bucharest as a massive error that   
   left Russia feeling cornered by a seemingly ever-expanding NATO. NATO   
   counters that it doesn’t pressgang countries into joining, and that some   
   requested membership to seek protection from Russia — as Finland and   
   Sweden are doing now.   
      
   More than 14 years on, NATO will pledge this week to support Ukraine   
   long-term as it defends itself against Russian aerial, missile and ground   
   attacks — many of which have struck power grids and other civilian   
   infrastructure, depriving millions of people of electricity and heating.   
      
   “NATO will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. We will   
   not back down,” the organization’s top civilian official,   
   Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, vowed last week.   
      
   North Macedonia and Montenegro have joined the U.S.-led organization in   
   recent years. With this, Stoltenberg said, “we have demonstrated that   
   NATO’s door is open and that it is for NATO allies and aspirant countries   
   to decide on membership. This is also the message to Ukraine.”   
      
   This gathering in Bucharest is likely to see NATO make fresh pledges of   
   non-lethal support to Ukraine: fuel, electricity generators, medical   
   supplies, winter equipment and drone jamming devices.   
      
   Individual allies are also likely to announce fresh supplies of military   
   equipment for Ukraine — chiefly the air defense systems that Kyiv so   
   desperately seeks to protect its skies. NATO as an organization will not   
   offer such supplies, to avoid being dragged into a wider war with   
   nuclear-armed Russia.   
      
   But the ministers, along with their Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba,   
   will also look further afield.   
      
   “Over the longer term we will help Ukraine transition from Soviet-era   
   equipment to modern NATO standards, doctrine and training,” Stoltenberg   
   said. This will not only improve Ukraine’s armed forces and help them to   
   better integrate, it will also meet some of the conditions for membership.   
      
   That said, Ukraine will not join NATO anytime soon. With the Crimean   
   Peninsula annexed, and Russian troops and pro-Moscow separatists holding   
   parts of the south and east, it’s not clear what Ukraine’s borders would   
   even look like.   
      
   Many of the 30 allies believe the focus now must be uniquely on defeating   
   Russia.   
      
   But even as economic pressure — high electricity and gas prices, plus   
   inflation, all exacerbated by the war — mounts on many allies, Stoltenberg   
   would not press Ukraine to enter into peace talks, and indeed NATO and   
   European diplomats say that Putin does not appear willing to come to the   
   table.   
      
   “Most wars end with negotiations,” he said. “But what happens at the   
   negotiating table depends on what happens on the battlefield. Therefore,   
   the best way to increase the chances for a peaceful solution is to support   
   Ukraine.”   
      
   The foreign ministers of Bosnia, Georgia and Moldova — three partners that   
   NATO says are under increasing Russian pressure — will also be in   
   Bucharest. Stoltenberg said NATO would “take further steps to help them   
   protect their independence, and strengthen their ability to defend   
   themselves.   
      
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   https://www.columbian.com/news/2022/nov/28/14-years-on-nato-to-r   
   new-a-vow-to-ukraine/   
      
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