Why NATO or any other state won’t send its troops to Ukraine? And why they might be right in doing so?
It’s official, Russia has invaded Ukraine on the wee hours of Thursday, 24th February. The Russian army barged into the Ukranian borders, in-what-was-a month long expected invasion. But what was of the least-of-expectations was the incompetence of the Ukrainian army to hold off the Russian offense for less than 48-hours. Bridges collapsed, Buildings decimated, Airports blown off and a desperate President pleading for help from the international community, this is what it has come to in Ukraine in the last 48 hours. International organizations like U.N and NATO were pretty quick to condemn Russia’s action on Ukraine. Leaders like Biden, Johnson and Macron stood up in support-for-Ukraine, in their respective nation addresses.
Russia was stormed with a wide array of economic sanctions, from the EU and United States. But all of this has done next-to-little to stop Russian army from marching, which is expected to reach the capital “Kiev”, in the next day or so. Within all those speeches, those sanctions, those condemnations from Western powers was a clear message, that Ukraine is all alone in its fight against Imperial Russia, and no state or organization is going to deploy its military in support for Ukraine. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has already cleared-the-air that it won’t send any of its troops into Ukraine. Rather their actions would focus around strengthening its eastern alliance frontiers. U.S President Joe Biden, has also discarded any intentions of sending American troops into Ukraine.
With no military aid coming, Ukraine is pretty much on its own to defend itself. But before we jump into the blame game, we must understand Why NATO or any other state won’t help Ukraine (atleast Militarily).
Ukraine isn’t a NATO member yet
Article 5 of NATO treaty states an attack against a NATO member is an attack against all. In moments of crisis, NATO members would align into one to fight against it’s opponents. But NATO won’t send it’s troops into Ukraine, because it isn’t a member of the organization yet. While NATO agrees, that Ukraine has been an essential partner to the organization for some time now. But it is it’s membership status which forbids the military organization from intervening into it’s borders. A very broad reason for today’s conflict in Ukraine is because of the country’s recent inclination towards joining NATO (as far as Russia is concerned).
Nobody wants another World War
If you have had a particular interest in geopolitical history and wars of the world, the present situation in Ukraine might remind you of the start of some-of-the-worst memories of humanity. An imperial leader trying to restore its past glory, by attacking it’s neighbor, while feeding it’s citizens propaganda’s of nationalism and peace-keeping. Using the umbrella of self-defense to justify your offense against others, this sounds terribly familiar, isn’t it? Yes we are talking about Adolf Hitler, the man who single handedly led the foundation of the most traumatic event of humanity ever.
Whether you like it or not, Russia is a major super-power, with the second largest army in the world. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has evoked debates around the possibility of another world-war, given it’s resemblance to Hitler’s annexation of Poland in 1939 which triggered world-war II. But thanks to shifting political cultures around the world, that a majority of the countries now agree that war isn’t a solution for resolving issues. Hence, NATO or any other state won’t interfere in Ukraine (atleast militarily), to avoid escalation of conflict.
Threat of Nuclear Warfare
Apart from Climate change and Global Warming, the next biggest threat to human civilization is the possibility of a nuclear war. Out of the total 12,000 nuclear-heads in the world, about an 11,000 is controlled by two countries, USA and Russia. Russia has a large stockpile of over 5,000 nuclear weapons. So a war against a major nuclear power like Russia, could result into escalations of a full-blown nuclear war, a catastrophic event that our civilization would never survive. Though such an event is highly unlikely to happen, the enormous risk associated with it forbids nations or organizations from going outright against major nuclear-powers.
Russia remains to be the 2nd most powerful army in the world
Despite years of economic sanctions and isolation of the Russian economy, Russia has managed to hold on to it’s position of being the second most powerful army in the world. Advanced weaponry along with battle hardened soldiers makes Russia a force to reckon with on any battlefield. But Russia’s real advantage here lies on the fact that it’s waging a war in it’s neighborhood. As we all know that wars or military operations are damn expensive, especially if fought on distant shores. According to a Brown University estimate, the war against Taliban in Afghanistan cost the U.S more than $5 trillion. That’s 1/3rd of EU’s GDP for 2020.
The war turned out to be a disaster for the U.S as Taliban regained power over the region. Consequently a war on Ukrainian soil would favour the Russian army, much more than any other state given it’s close proximity to capital Moscow. Deployment of soldiers and supplies would happen at a considerable pace for the Russian troops. Imagine the economic ramifications of fighting a war against Russia at it’s nearby territory. It’s fair to say that no country would want to be part of this.
The Principal author of the blog Just Logically Speaking, Susanta Ray is an enthusiast for information and learning. He thrives in subjects related to Modern Technology, Science, History, Space, Finance and Global Affairs.
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