Article 5 Is Porous, Not Solid. If Ukraine Was A Member Of NATO, No Member Of NATO Would Be Required To Send Armed Forces Into Ukraine To The Battle Armed Forces Of The Russian Federation.
Article Five Does Not, Would Not, And Will Not Require NATO Members To Defend Ukraine
From Media Reporting: “If Ukraine were to join NATO, it would benefit from Article 5, which guarantees collective defence, meaning that member states must assist in the event of an attack.”
From NATO: “With the invocation of Article 5, Allies can provide any form of assistance they deem necessary to respond to a situation. This is an individual obligation on each Ally and each Ally is responsible for determining what it deems necessary in the particular circumstances.”
If Ukraine Was A Member Of NATO, No Member Of The NATO Alliance Would Be Required To Send Armed Forces Into Ukraine To The Battle Armed Forces Of The Russian Federation.
“Article 5 is rock solid” Joseph Biden, 46th President Of The United States. No, It’s Quite Porous…
Today, Not All- Perhaps Not Even A Majority, Would Deploy Their Armed Forces Into Ukraine To Fight Along Side The Armed Forces Of Ukraine Against The Armed Forces Of The Russian Federation
Two important Questions About Knowns And Unknowns About The Russian Federation-Ukraine War:
1) There are countries whose public and private sectors since 24 February 2022 continue to engage commercially, economically, and financially with both the Russian Federation and Ukraine. As funding and military equipment continue to both countries the incentive for the government in Moscow and the government in Kyiv to engage destructively one another- directly and indirectly.
2) Neither Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation (2000-2008; 2012- ), and Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine (2019- ), have determined that the numbers of armed forces dead and wounded, the numbers of civilian dead and wounded have reached values requiring a cessation of the war. Public and private sector analyses have estimated that dead and wounded, armed forces and civilian, are nearing 200,000 for each country. As of today, that is not yet enough.
On 24 February 2022, the armed forces of the Russian Federation invaded and further invaded the territory of Ukraine in what Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation (2000-2008 and 2012- ), defined as a Special Military Operation [SMO] then on 22 December 2022 he redefined as a war. The initial invasion of Ukraine by the armed forces of the Russian Federation was in part from the territory of Belarus.
The war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine did not commence on 24 February 2022. The roots began their trajectories on 20 February 2014 when the armed forces of the Russian Federation invaded the Crimean Peninsula and the area known as the Donbas Region (Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast).
Article 5 does not require any member to invoke a military response. The government of Ukraine presents that had Ukraine been a member of the Brussels, Belgium-based North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) prior to 2008, prior to 2014, and prior to 24 February 2022, the armed forces of the Russian Federation would not have invaded because Article 5 would have been dissuasive. The government of Ukraine may be correct. NATO’s mandate is focused upon defensiveness rather than by force identifying opportunities to obtain new real estate for its portfolio.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Thirty-One Members: United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Albania, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Croatia, Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Romania, Germany, Slovakia, Greece, Slovenia, Hungary, Spain, Turkiye, Latvia, and North Macedonia. The Kingdom of Sweden awaits approval from the governments of the Republic of Hungary and the Republic of Turkiye.
The 199-member National Assembly (Country Assembly) of Hungary and the 600-member Grand National Assembly of the Republic of Turkiye have yet to approve the ascension of the Kingdom of Sweden- which has no border with the Russian Federation. The National Assembly of Hungary may approve the ascension of Sweden prior to the 11/12 July 2023 NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. The Grand National Assembly of Turkiye may not approve the ascension of Sweden prior to the 11/12 July 2023 NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BIDEN AHEAD OF THE ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF RUSSIA’S BRUTAL AND UNPROVOKED INVASION OF UKRAINE
The Royal Castle in Warsaw
Warsaw, Poland
21 February 2023
Excerpt: “Next year, I will host every member of NATO for our 2024 summit in the United States. Together, we’ll celebrate the 75th anniversary of the strongest defensive alliance in the history of the world -- NATO. And -- (applause) -- and let there be no doubt, the commitment of the United States to our NATO Alliance and Article 5 is rock solid. (Applause.) And every member of NATO knows it. And Russia knows it as well. An attack against one is an attack against all. It’s a sacred oath. (Applause.) A sacred oath to defend every inch of NATO territory.”
What Is Article 5 And Does It Require A Military Response?
Article 5
“In 1949, the primary aim of the North Atlantic Treaty – NATO’s founding treaty – was to create a pact of mutual assistance to counter the risk that the Soviet Union would seek to extend its control of Eastern Europe to other parts of the continent. Every participating country agreed that this form of solidarity was at the heart of the Treaty, effectively making Article 5 on collective defence a key component of the Alliance. Article 5 provides that if a NATO Ally is the victim of an armed attack, each and every other member of the Alliance will consider this act of violence as an armed attack against all members and will take the actions it deems necessary to assist the Ally attacked.”
“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 all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area. Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.”
“This article is complemented by Article 6, which stipulates: “For the purpose of Article 5, an armed attack on one or more of the Parties is deemed to include an armed attack: on the territory of any of the Parties in Europe or North America, on the Algerian Departments of France, on the territory of Turkey or on the Islands under the jurisdiction of any of the Parties in the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer; on the forces, vessels, or aircraft of any of the Parties, when in or over these territories or any other area in Europe in which occupation forces of any of the Parties were stationed on the date when the Treaty entered into force or the Mediterranean Sea or the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer.””
The principle of providing assistance
“With the invocation of Article 5, Allies can provide any form of assistance they deem necessary to respond to a situation. This is an individual obligation on each Ally and each Ally is responsible for determining what it deems necessary in the particular circumstances.”
“This assistance is taken forward in concert with other Allies. It is not necessarily military and depends on the material resources of each country. It is therefore left to the judgment of each individual member country to determine how it will contribute. Each country will consult with the other members, bearing in mind that the ultimate aim is to “to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.””
“At the drafting of Article 5 in the late 1940s, there was consensus on the principle of mutual assistance, but fundamental disagreement on the modalities of implementing this commitment. The European participants wanted to ensure that the United States would automatically come to their assistance should one of the signatories come under attack; the United States did not want to make such a pledge and obtained that this be reflected in the wording of Article 5.”
In 2022, NATO adopted a new “strategic concept” which includes increased focus (and pointed language) about the Russian Federation and for the first time People’s Republic of China. NATO may soon have a revised acronym: NAPTO for North Atlantic Pacific Treaty Organization.
NATO guidelines suggest members’ defense and security spending of 2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Currently, nine NATO members meet that guideline and nineteen expect to meet the guideline by 2024. NATO member Finland is projected to spend 2.2% in 2023 and prospective NATO member Sweden is projected to spend 2% by 2028. The United Kingdom projects to spend 2.5% by 2030. Canada spends approximately 1.2%. Some NATO members are projecting to spend 2.5% or 3% within the next eight years. According to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Two percent is increasingly seen as a floor, not as a ceiling.”
