Because I have grown up in Norway, I have always appreciated and understood the importance of NATO. Norway is a country with a small population that would not be able to protect themselves if standing alone against an attack. Being a part of the Alliance keeps not only us safe, but all the members safe from risk of being invaded from bigger and more powerful military countries.
In Norway we are also very aware of everything happening in Ukraine. It is easier to follow a war that your own country is being affected from. In America on the other hand, people do not really understand why their country is involved. Why send weapons and military? Why care at all? People do not want to be a part of a war, especially a war in a different continent.
Could the war be stopped earlier? Should the western countries have seen the war coming?
I believe yes. First, If Ukraine joined the Alliance earlier, the protection from all the members should have been enough to stop Putin from even thinking of attacking. My Ukrainian teammate could have celebrated Christmas at home, her parents could have visited her for her graduation and watched her receive her diploma. Instead, she had to celebrate Christmas alone, and during her graduation her parents had to sit in their basement without internet while worrying about bombs falling right outside their home. They were not even able to watch the live stream of her graduation.
Second, more awareness could have created faster and better solutions to the war. Even though America is a part of NATO, there is a lot of people not understanding what’s going on. I rarely hear people talking about it, and I never see people posting on social media about the war. If people in all countries, included America, was aware earlier, maybe the war could have been stopped earlier. Public opinion is important, and knowledge spreads faster if people are aware. Therefore, everyone should take responsibility and read articles, talk to friends or family, watch the news about the war in Ukraine. This war could still escalate to a greater war, involving more countries, but can be prevented if people know what’s going on, and get involved in stopping it.
In 2008, Ukraine applied for a NATO membership, however, the plans were stopped after the 2010 presidential election in Ukraine. The new president, Viktor Yanukovych preferred that Ukraine would remain non-aligned and neutral. That changed a few years later when Russia invaded Ukraine back in 2014. The new government decided that a NATO membership was a priority to protect Ukraine.
In June 2022 the NATO leaders agreed again that Ukraine would become a member of the Alliance, and Ukraine would keep the right to “determine its future and foreign policy without outside interference” (Wikipedia). As Putin did not want to lose control over Ukraine, Russia sent in military troops February 24th 2022, to invade and finally gain power over the Ukrainian people.
Putin excused and justified the attack as an attempt to “demilitarize” Ukraine and defend Russia against what he falsely called a “neo-Nazi” regime. He was just defending Russia against the apparent neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine. While it was obvious to everyone else that he just wanted to stop the membership process of Ukraine joining the Alliance and finally have Ukraine as part of his own country. He would rather risk a world war than giving up the control of Ukraine, which says a lot about his definition of “protection”.
An earlier NATO membership would have prevented the war, all the lives lost, the destruction of Ukraine, and my teammate’s family could have seen her graduate. Prime minister of Finland stated, “’Vladimir Putin would not have launched the invasion had Kyiv already been a member […] We can look down the history and ask ourselves the question, should Ukraine already be a member of NATO? […] there wouldn’t be a war in Ukraine” (Preussen).
Could NATO have predicted Putin’s attack in 2022? Or should they at least have been prepared?
It is horrifying how easy it seems for dictators to invade other countries, and how slow the western countries are to react. We should have seen this war coming. When Hitler invaded Poland no one believed he would do it at first, so the western countries were not capable of stopping Germany before it was too late. Now that the history is repeating itself with Putin invading Ukraine thinking that the western countries would not risk stopping Russia and initiate World War III, we should have been prepared. The Alliance should have supported Ukraine earlier. Luckily, Putin did not anticipate the Ukrainian people’s ability to protect their country alone for 6 months, and since then Russia has experienced failure after failure.
To prevent the risk of nuclear war while processing the membership, I wish NATO could create a law that any country applying for a membership has some sort of protection. If a country that has applied for membership is being attacked, they have the same rights for protection as a member. This way NATO would be able to send military or help into Ukraine before the invasion. Or at least earlier.
What will happen next and how will this war end? Will it end with a nuclear war because Russia realizes their defeat and want to end the war with a “bang”? What are the predictions now? A lot of the predictions before the war were right, so why not start taking them seriously and prepare for anything? This is questions everyone should ask and try to answer, or at least be aware of.
Citation:
Preussen, W. (2023, January 17). NATO membership for Ukraine would have prevented war, says Finland’s PM. POLITICO. Retrieved from https://www.politico.eu/article/nato-membership-ukraine-would-have-prevented-russia-war-finland-sanna-marin-prime-minister-says/
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