101
votes
Why does Russia see NATO as an aggressor when the Istanbul document signed by Russia grants each participant the right to chose its allies separately?
Russia (the Russian government) claims to believe that Ukraine and Europe are not sovereign actors, but rather controlled by the US. I do not know if they actually do believe that, but considering ...
- 106k
93
votes
Why didn't the US just complement Russia's security demands to avoid the invasion of Ukraine?
Russia essentially asked to ban not-yet-joined ex-USSR countries, which I find quite reasonable for maintaining the so-called buffer zone.
That's not reasonable. Those are sovereign countries with ...
JJJ♦
- 38.9k
90
votes
Accepted
Why doesn't Russia build more missile defense systems instead of complaining about NATO's systems?
Complaining is Cheap, Building is Expensive
Simply put, it takes very little money and effort to complain, even on a diplomatic stage. (This is also why the most common reaction to a problem on the ...
- 859
74
votes
What is the motivation for the expansion of NATO in Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, at the risk of starting a hot war with Russia?
However, what NATO was doing in the recent years seemed to raise the risk of hot war with Russia. For example, NATO tried to build missile bases in Eastern Europe and even trying to include Ukraine, ...
JJJ♦
- 38.9k
67
votes
Accepted
Why don't the other countries of Europe maintain as massive a military as Russia does?
This is a great question about both politics and history. It relates directly to the changing nature of what a "country" is. First, let me directly answer your questions:
Given that France, ...
- 1,813
66
votes
Accepted
Why didn't the US just complement Russia's security demands to avoid the invasion of Ukraine?
Well, the catch is that Russia put out two documents (the same day). You missed the other one which did have proposals found a lot more objectionable in the West.
Article 4
The Russian Federation and ...
- 144k
65
votes
Why does Germany have such a rather small defense budget?
The 2% goal for defense spending of all NATO countries originates from the Wales Summit of 2014. However, the people who made that commitment are heads of governments, many of which don't actually ...
- 74.7k
64
votes
What is the basis for the Western leaders to believe that harsh economic sanctions will not lead to a nuclear war with Russia eventually?
That's not necessarily the belief. When trying to make arrangements for future outcomes, anything can go wrong. The best that people can do is try to maximize probabilities of good outcomes and ...
- 7,889
62
votes
Accepted
Would a (nuclear) strike that hits an NATO member state embassy/extraterritoriality in Ukraine be considered a (nuclear) strike against NATO?
The NATO charter is not a smart contract that executes automatically. Article 5 doesn't just "trigger" and automatically launch jets and missiles.
The first point of the article is giving ...
60
votes
Why doesn't Russia build more missile defense systems instead of complaining about NATO's systems?
A missile defence system that can intercept ICBMs is a tricky proposition. ICBMs move very high (above the atmosphere) and fast. Hitting them in the orbital coasting phase is nigh-on impossible, ...
- 7,470
54
votes
Accepted
How could the past NATO expansions in Eastern Europe be seen as justification of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022?
First, let's concede that many people will "justify" whatever they have chosen to justify. Giving support to Ukraine and oppossing Rusia involves some risks and cost.
I have met some of ...
- 31.2k
51
votes
Accepted
Why doesn't Russia object to Norway's NATO membership?
Norway has been in NATO from day one.
Norway and NATO
As a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Norway has been an active participant in NATO since the signing of the North ...
50
votes
Accepted
How true are Trump’s claims about NATO spending?
Mostly true
First claim: exaggerated
In the three decades before Trump's election, NATO spending declined by two-thirds.
On page 4 of this 1987 report(pdf) on NATO military spending, we learn that in ...
- 6,305
49
votes
Why don't the other countries of Europe maintain as massive a military as Russia does?
It is impossible to understand Russia's preoccupation over seven decades with military power without understanding the country's experience in WW2.
The war had a huge impact on the national psyche ...
- 10.7k
49
votes
Accepted
What are the de facto advantages of Sweden and Finland joining NATO?
There is a difference between providing arms and going to war. You are correct that under the current status quo, if Russia seriously threatened Sweden or Finland, NATO nations would unquestionably ...
- 8,362
48
votes
Why does Germany have such a rather small defense budget?
Absolute and relative amounts
Germany has come much closer to the 2% goal due to the COVID crisis -- the GDP went down, the defense budget stayed the same, so the percentage went up. Similarly, good ...
- 106k
48
votes
What have the US and NATO done in Afghanistan for 20+ years?
TLDR:
It would be grossly unfair to think that the NATO and US military did not try their very best to win this. Many soldiers paid a very high price and are now justifiably very distressed. Pretty ...
45
votes
If everyone knows NATO can beat Russia using conventional weapons, doesn’t that force them to rapidly escalate to nuclear to have any chance?
Russia might also be convinced that NATO lacks the political coherence and will to fight, and that going nuclear would be a "Pearl Harbor moment" which turns it into a fight-to-the-finish. ...
- 106k
42
votes
Why and since when did Russia stop integrating itself into the Western community?
There were many preexisting diverging views on international law. The open disagreements about e.g. the NATO intervention in Kosovo don't constitute the main problem, because in such a case the ...
- 4,719
42
votes
Why didn't the US just complement Russia's security demands to avoid the invasion of Ukraine?
Putin’s ultimatum was a pretext. Russia would have invaded anyway. Russian officials stated multiple times that the goal is claiming Ukrainian lands and dismantling the democratically elected ...
- 10.4k
42
votes
Accepted
Why are European countries increasing their defense budgets if they are members of a nuclear-armed NATO?
Nuclear deterrance doesn't avoid war. India and Pakistan are both nuclear powers yet they fought a war in 1999.
Countries would always want to avoid the nuclear option - they will try to achieve their ...
- 4,902
41
votes
Why did (most of) the European NATO members support Ukraine's aspirations to joining NATO?
I would first contest the premise made by the paragraph you cited.
(..) Russia’s security concerns are in fact genuine, and NATO
expansion eastward is seen by Russians as directed against their
...
- 10.4k
41
votes
Accepted
Why didn't the US and allies supply Ukraine with air defense systems before the October strikes?
The question is both interesting and somewhat incorrect in its assumptions.
Why didn't?
Oh, but they did. Ukraine got a very sizable proportion of NATO's stock of MANPADS (Stingers) for example. ...
40
votes
Why doesn't U.S. use "strategic ambiguity" on whether or not to send troops to Ukraine just like they do for the Taiwan situation?
They are not the same situation, historically speaking.
Ukraine's situation needs to be understood in the context of the Cold War. It is similar to the crushing of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Given 2 ...
40
votes
Accepted
Why does NATO accession require a treaty protocol?
The 1997 Congressional Research Service report NATO Enlargement:
The Process and Allied Views states:
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in considering the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949, ...
- 673
38
votes
Why doesn't Russia join NATO and what would happen if it tried?
Let's entertain the hypothetical first. Your reasoning skips an important step. You seem to say that the current tensions between Russia and the West could be resolved by Russia joining NATO. In other ...
JJJ♦
- 38.9k
37
votes
Accepted
What are Turkey's objections to Finland and Sweden joining NATO?
According to Turkey's President Erdoğan, they will not immediately approve the enlargement unless Turkey's own security concerns are considered.
In general, Erdoğan believes that they have not ...
- 10.2k
36
votes
Accepted
Does NATO have any obligation to defend Ukraine against Russia?
No. Obligations are listed under Article 5 of NATO.
Article 5
The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them ...
36
votes
What was the reason for extending NATO in the 1990s?
I'll quote this verbatim from an answer I wrote on History.SE. The explanation is by Bill Clinton - American president during the expansion.
American President Bill Clinton, who was President during ...
- 32.4k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible