Letters

Newly liberated countries and Nato

Membership was sought and not imposed

Sat Dec 10 2022 - 00:11

Sir, – In “Wallace’s pro-Iran sympathies strip away his faux radicalism” (Opinion & Analysis, December 5th), Justine McCarthy writes: “A world gripped by fear after the Russian invasion of Ukraine needs to hear persuasive voices speaking out about Nato’s creeping expansion and the surrender to it by countries that once cherished their neutrality”.

Nato membership was sought by Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia (as it then was), Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Croatia following their experiences of Soviet domination and the memories of Budapest 1956 and Prague 1968.

This was not “creeping expansion”: it was, rather, a deliberate move by newly liberated countries to ensure their security against a previous oppressor. Finland and Sweden applied for membership (not yet settled following Turkish objections for reasons not connected with Russian aggression) after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: this was a prudent reaction to aggression by a neighbouring power rather than a “surrender”.

None of the countries listed has threatened, either individually or collectively as members or candidates for membership of Nato, military action against Russia.

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Russia’s action in invading Ukraine fully justified these countries’ actions.

To paraphrase your columnist: a world gripped by fear after the Russian invasion of Ukraine needs to hear persuasive voices speaking out against Russia’s violent imperialism and in favour of defending the internationally recognised territorial integrity and freedom of a UN member state. – Yours, etc,

ALAN DUKES,

Kildare.

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