Professional Documents
Culture Documents
3. What is NATO in the modern world? Can you comment its activities in
Serbia, Afghanistan or Iraq?
3. In the modern world NATO secures stability. Aggressors can’t offend their
victims freely in the presence of NATO forces. NATO troops often serve as a
barrier between the fighting adversaries, as it was in Bosnia in 1996. Their
SFOR and IFOR peacekeeping missions in the Balkans were very effective.
5. In case Ukraine joins NATO, we will be safe from any aggression. That is the
biggest advantage. However, the main disadvantage of such a decision will
be our deteriorated relations with Russia. First of all our economic relations
will suffer. Russia is very sensitive about NATO’s expansion to the East.
Can we call their mission in Iraq a peacekeeping one? I don’t think so. NATO
had broken into Iraq under the pretext of looking for some Iraqi nuclear
weapons, which have never been found. However, we all know their motive:
they just needed oil. That dirty war resulted in numerous deaths of innocent
people: partisans, women and children… I want Ukraine to be defended by
Ukrainian soldiers, not by foreigners…
Russia is against NATO, and we have always been, we are, and we will
depend on it. The Slavs ought to stay together – the common faith, and the
common victory in the war! If we gave our bases to NATO, Russian missiles
would be aimed at Ukraine, because nobody can guarantee that NATO’s
missiles would not be aimed at Russia. I am definitely against Ukraine’s
joining NATO!
ZABOLOTNYI,
English Teacher, PFC (ret.)
3. When we say “civilization”, we may not think about NATO, but it comes
automatically. Belonging to Europe, means belonging to the North Atlantic
civilization. Do you know why Switzerland does not join NATO? Because it is
surrounded by its members. Why bother? So, NATO is the force component of
our civilization. And that civilization cannot afford any mess like terrorist
maniacs playing with weapons of mass destruction, or genocide in Europe, or
piracy along the Eastern Coast of Africa. So, they go in and solve the
problem. After the USSR collapsed being defeated in the Cold War, NATO
started thinking globally, and since then has become even more responsible.
NATO does not operate in Iraq. It operates in Afghanistan, though. But they
don’t smash entire villages there, and they don’t face massive guerrilla
movement, as the Soviets did. They are there by the UN mandate, by the
way.
4. Such flexible things as looking for alliance should not be put into such
fundamental documents as a Constitution. Situation changes daily.
Documents are always late.
5. Joining NATO may become the best thing happened to Ukraine since 1991.
There are no disadvantages. There are possible problems with reforming our
society. What to do with those hundreds of redundant generals, inefficient
management and contradicting laws? What to do with the most expensive
industry in the world, and the world’s deadliest coal mines? How to make our
top brass more responsible? Bringing the country to NATO standards will help
us to sort the things out. By the way, being a NATO member means that the
country is attractive for investments. And no bases (they just don’t exist).
Besides, we have some quite aggressive foreign military troops stationed in
the Crimea, don’t we? And no sending our troops abroad if we don’t feel like
doing that (it’s a matter of volunteering). Of course, there are a lot of people
who don’t want things to be changed. They feel
comfortable with instability guaranteed. I hope
they will be overwhelmed.
The
interview was taken by
Irene
Petrashchuk, Group 34-E.