Ukraine invasion

[Nikosandros]

The problem is if we do join, it will take some time before we are full members, and in the meantime we are vulnerable to further Russian aggressions.

My understanding is that the process will be greatly expedited, given the circumstances.

 

[Horwath]

I think it is quite likely we will join. However, it does affect some things (like our ability to work towards banishment of nuclear weapons*, and to be able to do diplomatic forays. Not that we have been that successful in those), and the decision to joining NATO is something that should have a very broad political support. We already do lots of trainings with NATO so our military is compatible, and we will start increasing our military budget..

The problem is if we do join, it will take some time before we are full members, and in the meantime we are vulnerable to further Russian aggressions.

* Would have been interesting to know how the situation had been if we had continued with our nuclear weapons program that we had in the 60s. We definitively have the capability to make such weapons, but the politicians decided to scrap it.

nuclear weapons will never be banished, so maybe best situation is to (mostly) everyone to have them.

 

[Horwath]

My understanding is that the process will be greatly expedited, given the circumstances.

Doesn't article 5 apply to official candidates?

 

[Cadence]

nuclear weapons will never be banished, so maybe best situation is to (mostly) everyone to have them.

Lots of folks having them feels like it greatly increases the chances you will get an individual or government that is unstable enough to actually use one...

 

[Horwath]

Lots of folks having them feels like it greatly increases the chances you will get an individual or government that is unstable enough to actually use one...

if North Korea has them...

 

[Cadence]

if North Korea has them...

How many copies of that do you want if they do?

 

[Sacrosanct]

Lots of folks having them feels like it greatly increases the chances you will get an individual or government that is unstable enough to actually use one...

Not to mention the chances of an accident. You don't get fewer car accidents by putting more cars on the road. Looking at the history of near disasters with nukes in the past, more nukes is a very bad idea.

 

[billd91]

if North Korea has them...

And aside from the usual annual brinkmanship with South Korea and missile tests, they haven't really gotten into any shooting wars with anyone. So while they are run by people as nutty as squirrel poo, they're largely self-contained. No so with Russia right now.
I had figured that the next likely nuclear exchanges, if any occur, would be between Pakistan and India, but now I'm not so sure Putin will have the discipline to not nuke Ukraine if he feels he's getting humiliated too badly.

 

[Mannahnin]

The problem is if we do join, it will take some time before we are full members, and in the meantime we are vulnerable to further Russian aggressions.

You know what they say- the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second-best time is today.

Still, I wish NATO wasn't needed anymore.

 

[Zardnaar]

View attachment 155308

Heh.