Former NATO Leader Believes Delaying Ukraine’s Membership is a Big Mistake
Jose Nino
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On January 9, 2023, NATO former Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that it would be “a strategic mistake” to wait for the Russo-Ukrainian conflict to end before allowing Ukraine to join NATO.
“It would be a strategic mistake with dangerous consequences,” Rasmussen said during an interview with Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) when he was asked if Ukraine should be allowed to join NATO only after the conflict ends.
Per Rasmussen, delaying Ukraine’s NATO membership will benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin, who “will be able to hinder Ukraine’s accession to NATO as long as he wants,” and the conflict will go on for an extended period of time. Rasmussen has an extensive political career. He served as Prime Minister of Denmark from November 2001 to April 2009 and the Secretary General of NATO from August 2009 to October 2014
Indeed, fears that Ukraine joining NATO could cause further increases in tensions between Russia and the Collective West are warranted. For Russia, keeping Ukraine out of NATO is of the utmost geostrategic importance.
It would be the equivalent of China and Russia setting up military bases in Mexico and the Caribbean as part of a broader military alliance. The sad truth here is that Western elites are so caught up in their fanatic interventionist ideologies that they can’t recognize the harsh truths about geopolitics.
Instead, they will continue escalating tensions with Russia much to the detriment of world geopolitical stability.
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