I kind of had to laugh when Putin said “I will not give the number of personnel losses. I will let the Defence Ministry do it after it runs the numbers, but the structure of losses is unfavourable for them as well.” Kind of just hinted at unfavourable losses for Russia and pawned the explanation of to the Russian MoD. Although Ukraine is being very tight lipped and it’s way to early to tell, it still doesn’t seem like they are experiencing “Unfavourable losses”. As for the argument against Ukraine joining NATO, I feel like they have more than a right to. They were attacked by a more powerful aggressor with a history of attacking it’s neighbours and should feel safe. However, I’ve heard opinions that NATO has expanded far from just the North Atlantic and with the right misinformation and propaganda, people from the east or anywhere can see it as encroachment and imperialism. Perhaps an alternative to Ukraine just joining NATO outright would be for the eastern members of the alliance to form some sort of new mutual defense pact for Eastern and Central Europe that is linked with NATO. Something along the lines of SEATO. Perhaps that would relieve some political tensions?
Solid point on how NATO has been perceived. You're right, I don't really think there's a valid argument that NATO hasn't expanded, it very clearly has grown. If that's presented as an offensive/aggressive/etc. type alliance, it's easily shown as a problem to those not 'in the club'. I haven't heard much about a regional type military alliance. Would be interesting to see if something like that could get legs.
I kind of had to laugh when Putin said “I will not give the number of personnel losses. I will let the Defence Ministry do it after it runs the numbers, but the structure of losses is unfavourable for them as well.” Kind of just hinted at unfavourable losses for Russia and pawned the explanation of to the Russian MoD. Although Ukraine is being very tight lipped and it’s way to early to tell, it still doesn’t seem like they are experiencing “Unfavourable losses”. As for the argument against Ukraine joining NATO, I feel like they have more than a right to. They were attacked by a more powerful aggressor with a history of attacking it’s neighbours and should feel safe. However, I’ve heard opinions that NATO has expanded far from just the North Atlantic and with the right misinformation and propaganda, people from the east or anywhere can see it as encroachment and imperialism. Perhaps an alternative to Ukraine just joining NATO outright would be for the eastern members of the alliance to form some sort of new mutual defense pact for Eastern and Central Europe that is linked with NATO. Something along the lines of SEATO. Perhaps that would relieve some political tensions?
Solid point on how NATO has been perceived. You're right, I don't really think there's a valid argument that NATO hasn't expanded, it very clearly has grown. If that's presented as an offensive/aggressive/etc. type alliance, it's easily shown as a problem to those not 'in the club'. I haven't heard much about a regional type military alliance. Would be interesting to see if something like that could get legs.