To many who watched his address to Congress on Wednesday morning, Ukraine's heroic president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was conspicuous in not mentioning that it's highly unlikely his embattled country could ever join NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Less than 24 hours before, in speaking to the United Kingdom's Joint Expeditionary Force, Zelenskyy declared: ''For years we have been hearing about how the door is supposedly open [to NATO membership], but now we hear that we cannot enter. And it is true, and it must be acknowledged.''
In so doing, Zelenskyy was probably acknowledging an obvious fact: Based on the present conflict between Russia and Ukraine and its long-standing disagreements over the two Russian-speaking provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, the NATO Charter itself would ban Ukraine from seeking membership.
''States which have ethnic disputes, or external territorial disputes,'' according to Article 10 of the NATO Charter, ''including irredentist claims, or internal jurisdictional disputes must settle those disputes by peaceful means in accordance with OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] principles.
''Resolution of such disputes would be factor in determining whether to invite a state to join the [NATO] Alliance.''
''Everyone knows Ukraine's admission to NATO is on the back burner — including [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,'' Jim Brooke, founder and former editor of Ukraine Business Network in Kyiv, told Newsmax.
Brooke, a former New York Times and Voice of America correspondent, added: ''The war is taking place because Putin and a small group of advisers want it. And it severely threatens Putin's future as Russia's leader.''
Lawrence Haas, onetime communications director for former Vice President Al Gore and author of the critically acclaimed ''The Kennedys in the World: How Jack, Bobby, and Ted Remade America's Empire,'' agreed.
''Putin knew that, due to opposition within NATO, the alliance had no plans to accept Ukraine's request for membership,'' Haas told us. ''And, if he wanted, he could have received private assurances that NATO would not accept Ukraine for the foreseeable future.
''Putin invaded Ukraine as part of his long-term quest to restore as much of the Soviet empire as possible and, more specifically, to expand the number of nations on his border over which he has influence.''
There are dissenting opinions as to whether Ukraine membership in NATO would be banned by its border dispute with Russia.
Richard V. Allen, President Ronald Reagan's first national decurity adviser, said that ''this is no obstacle to membership. After all, what we called the Federal Republic of Germany [West Germany], had a huge border dispute with communist 'East German People's Republic.' Ronald Reagan fixed that, along with strong support from [British Prime Minister] Margaret Thatcher, and some from [French President] Francois Mitterrand.''
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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