Poland and the Czech Republic are already being pressed into service as front-line cannon fodder for an "unavoidable" military confrontation with Moscow and the SCO. It must be confounding for Bush to realise that Eastern Europe is unwilling to trade one demanding foreign master for another. Aside from the opportunity for involvement in any number of exciting foreign military campaigns that are not in Ukraine's interest, and the chance to have thousands of foreign troops and mercenaries with free reign running around your nation, the Ukrainian people seem unenthuisastic.
story from naharnet
Ukraine Won't Join NATO in the Near Future
Ukraine will not be joining the NATO western military alliance in the immediate future, the country's president Viktor Yushchenko said Saturday, Interfax reported.
The country would not join in the next one or two years, but when it was ready, said Yushchenko during a wreath-laying ceremony at the grave of the Unknown Warrior in Kiev.
The pro-western president, whose rule has been bolstered by the victory of a pro-Western coalition in last month's parliamentary election, has regularly advocated joining the NATO alliance.
On Monday he told a meeting of regional defense ministers in Kiev: "Ukraine confirms its course toward membership of the European Union and NATO."
Most Ukrainians however say they are against their country, which was ruled for centuries from Moscow, joining the Western military alliance.
Russian ambassador Viktor Chernomyrdin told Saturday's edition of the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda that he did not see any reason for Ukraine joining NATO.
"Why should Ukraine join this military bloc that, by the way, possesses the nuclear weapon ? Does any threat exist?" he told the paper.
"If some menace to Ukraine exists, I'm sure that we would be the first to come to the defense of the neighbor and would not even consult anybody about this," he added. (AFP)
No comments:
Post a Comment