03-23-2022, 11:10 AM
![[Image: China-President-Xi-Jinping-Toast-With-Ru...-Putin.jpg]](http://www.financetwitter.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/China-President-Xi-Jinping-Toast-With-Russia-President-Vladimir-Putin.jpg)
Can the Russian invasion of Ukraine be avoided in the first place? Definitely, but the conflict was never about Ukraine to begin with. Russia was engaged in a bold brinkmanship game with the United States and NATO over their respective sphere of influence. And Ukrainian President Zelensky was foolish enough to believe that Russian Vladimir Putin would not dare invade Ukraine.
Joe Biden too thought Putin was bluffing, hence the U.S. president made the biggest blunder of his life when the U.S. and Ukraine signed a “Charter on Strategic Partnership” on Nov 10 last year. It was essentially Washington’s support for Kyiv’s right to pursue membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – if Ukraine met the alliance’s criteria.
Joe Biden too thought Putin was bluffing, hence the U.S. president made the biggest blunder of his life when the U.S. and Ukraine signed a “Charter on Strategic Partnership” on Nov 10 last year. It was essentially Washington’s support for Kyiv’s right to pursue membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – if Ukraine met the alliance’s criteria.
The November agreement could be hatched to test Russia with no serious intention to accept Ukraine into NATO. If it was a serious offer, the NATO could quickly accept Ukraine before the invasion. The Western powers have months to do that while Putin was mobilizing his army. NATO’s Article 5 says that an attack on one member of NATO is an attack on all of its members.
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