Ukraine to seek NATO membership - BBC

Ukraine's prime minister has said he will ask parliament to put the country on a path towards Nato membership.

Arseny Yatsenyuk said the government was sending a bill to MPs urging that Ukraine's non-bloc status be cancelled.

The remarks come as Nato holds an emergency meeting to discuss the crisis in eastern Ukraine.

The West has stepped up its accusations of direct Russian involvement in the conflict, following advances by pro-Russian rebels.

On Thursday Nato released satellite images it said showed Russian forces inside Ukraine. and said more than 1,000 troops were operating there.

Russia denies sending troops.

Link BBC

So Ukraine is not a member of NATO, but it is thinking about joining them, which could add more defense against the Russian invasion. Evidence points to Russia having invaded with both paratroopers and possibly an unknown number of troops hiding under the guise of unofficial uniforms. Russian artillery has been caught firing across the border on Ukrainian soldiers, and no one knows who shot down MH-17.

So what is NATO?

The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.

Wikipedia: NATO

The United Kingdom and the United States joined NATO along with other member states in 1949, and Greece and Turkey followed in 1952. Then a whole host of other nations joined. IT could be possible that if Ukraine joins NATO, and Russia continues its sketchy semi-invasion, there could be a military conflict involving member nations.



A map of Europe



A map of Warsaw Pact Territory

Is Russia trying to regain the status it had during the Cold War?

At a recent government meeting, the official government of Ukraine said its aim is still membership in the E.U. (and now applying for NATO membership). The bill presented would also prevent Ukraine from joining a bloc that would get in the way of joining NATO, such as something like the Warsaw Pact of past years, so basically anything Soviet related.

Crimea was annexed from Ukraine by Russia in March, and there are worries that Russia might try to grab more territory. Is Russia aiming to get to the oil pipelines that run through Ukraine?

The U.S. stance on the situation is that the uprising is not home-grown, but that the separatists are trained, funded and armed by Russia.

Well that will force the issue. Russia will either have to launch a full-scale invasion before the membership goes through, or NATO will be treaty-obliged to intervene and WW3 starts.

Dangerous game of brinksmanship on both sides.

Though in fairness only one side has been sending troops to invade a neighboring country.

a reply to: Painterz

Though in fairness only one side has been sending troops to invade a neighboring country.

And only one side has been shelling it's own civilians.

a reply to: Painterz

I was thinking it would force the issue as well. Although I'm not sure if Ukraine would get NATO membership right away, and there seems to be a lot of paperwork keeping the U.S. and its allies from aiding Ukraine at the moment. But maybe that would change if Ukraine was a member of NATO.

a reply to: Flatcoat

And only one side has been shelling it's own civilians.

And only one side has been sending troops into a sovereign country and annexing part of that sovereign country.

Have you noticed they only shell where the separatists are hiding behind human shields?

i say okay (UK)

they are asking for protection and russia wont mess with the UK or USA again, we went through that already.

If the Ukraine are asking to join nato i say yes, but if they do and another country in nato lands in trouble they better step up like we do.

a reply to: Flatcoat

And only one side has been shelling it's own civilians.

That may be about to change, if we assume that the armored vehicles advancing on Mariupol are really Ukrainian and not Russian:

www.mariupolnews.com.ua...

a reply to: darkbake

Ukrainian government is really doing their best to provoke Russia to annihilate the place. What sort of baboons are running that show? Just saying "applying for Nato", will pretty much sign their fate as a twilight zone, as Nato would never go that way and even consider that application.

Nato would be mad to accept such petition, as it would draw it immediatelly in a war. That sort of act alone would pretty much qualify as a declaration of war to Russia. So, they are not going to hurry with that application.

So instead, why not just simply sit down at the table, and seek a political solution to a political problem?

a reply to: darkbake

So Ukraine is not a member of NATO, but it is thinking about joining them, which could add more defense against the Russian invasion.

Is this CNN? We need more defense against the western mainstream media, not "the Russians".

Evidence points to Russia having invaded with both paratroopers and possibly an unknown number of troops hiding under the guise of unofficial uniforms.

"Evidence" also points to a Loch Ness "monster".

Russian artillery has been caught firing across the border on Ukrainian soldiers, and no one knows who shot down MH-17.

Maybe it was Russian Artillery….

Dark Bake, is this you?

a reply to: tsurfer2000h

Have you noticed they only shell where the separatists are hiding behind human shields?

Is this the "Gaza" defense? "They were standing next to a terrorist, so we had no choice. We had to kill them."

The problem for Russia is that Putin remembers the old days when the USSR was feared and respected and I think that he wants Russia to be a major player again. The problem is that (much to his no doubt surprise) his neighbours also remember the old days and have rather darker memories of it - you know, repression, lack of democracy, the secret police listening in on you and above all prison camps for anyone who dares to suggest that they want a free vote please.
Putin has also, I think, become something of a prisoner of his own hawkish rhetoric.

a reply to: AngryCymraeg

lack of democracy, the secret police listening in on you...

NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily

You were saying...Soviet Union huh...Putin...bad guys.

a reply to: Flatcoat

Is this the "Gaza" defense? "They were standing next to a terrorist, so we had no choice. We had to kill them."

Well it is better than the reason Russia used to annex and start this conflict, and it isn't a defense as much as it is the truth.

Give Ukraine membership!

Send the real Facists back across the border to Mother Russia.

Liberate Crimea!

a reply to: Nikola014

NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily

And how many other phone carriers are there?

Verizon is only a small piece of the phone world whether you know it or not.

a reply to: tsurfer2000h

And the difference is what exactly? Could you be any more hypocrite?

When it's the US who's spying on it's own citizens and other countries citizens, then it's okay, it's democratic, but if Russia's doing it, then it's against human laws?

Same as, when US/NATO breaks another country sovereignty, when they bomb that country, completely tear it apart, it's okay, but if Russia takes a region with zero casualties and while assisting their own people, then it's not okay.

A logic of a western citizen. Never stops surprising me. So hypocrite. Double standards as usual ( not every of course, there are exceptions, but they are in minority )

Plus, we're still waiting for you to explain the videos i posted.

NATO or EU doens`t take in destabilized countries, because they would bring in troubles right away.

So if they would do it this time, as they never have, NATO wants trouble !

originally posted by: Nikola014
a reply to: AngryCymraeg

lack of democracy, the secret police listening in on you...

NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily

You were saying...Soviet Union huh...Putin...bad guys.

Oh look, our favourite pro-Russian poster is back.
By the way, in democracies information about illegal # gets released. In the days of the USSR it was kept very secret and even asking about it got you sent to a Gulag. Western prisons are not Gulags.
And having the vote is, I suppose, a bad thing how exactly?

a reply to: AngryCymraeg

You got this all wrong man. I am not a pro-Russian. I am a Yugoslavian citizen. You forget that Yugoslavia never got along with Soviet Union, in fact, our two communist countries hated each other. Just a little bit of history for you.

I just can't stand the people who push lies as facts, which obviously makes you think that im pro-Russian.

You're changing the subject. You said in Soviet Union, the secret police spied on their own citizens. But you fail to say that spying happens in every other country, so I just gave you a little reminder of what has happened in the US just a year ago.

But back on the subject. I have been saying this since the beginning of the conflict. NATO/US attention was to overthrow the pro-Russian president Yanuckovich, create a mess in Ukraine, and all that just so they could set up a base in the Eastern Ukraine, right in front of Russia.

EDIT: I am just wondering which condition did previous post violated, when all i asked for was the proofs for the claims the OP made, and i just posted two videos in which we can see Ukrainian army shelling civilians.

Should I set a yellow avatar because i don't support the west???