by Jackson Richman at theepochtimes.com
This week, President Joe Biden was at the NATO summit in Lithuania, where the topic of Ukraine being a future member of the 31-member alliance.
The 2024 presidential candidates are split on that possibility.
Mr. Biden, a Democrat, told CNN that Ukraine is not ready to join the Brussels-based group.
“I don’t think it’s ready for membership in NATO,” he told Fareed Zakaria in an interview that aired on July 9.
“But here’s the deal. I spent, as you know, a great deal of time trying to hold NATO together because I believe Putin has had an overwhelming objective from the time he launched 185,000 troops into Ukraine, and that was to break NATO,” continued Mr. Biden. “He was confident, in my view and many in the intelligence community, he was confident he could break NATO.”
Mr. Biden went on to say that NATO membership for Ukraine now would present an undesirable reality.
“So holding NATO together is really critical,” he said. “I don’t think there is unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war.
“For example, if you did that, then, you know, and I mean what I say, we’re determined to commit every inch of territory that is NATO territory as a commitment that we’ve all made no matter what.”
Nonetheless, during the NATO summit, Mr. Biden expressed that Ukraine would one day join the alliance.
“Your resilience and your resolve has been a model for the whole world to see,” he said. “I look forward to the day when we’re having the meeting celebrating your official, official membership in NATO.”
Meanwhile, the 2024 GOP candidates displayed divergent views on whether Ukraine should be part of NATO.
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said she is for Ukraine being a NATO member.
“The key is, there is no reason Ukraine should not be part of NATO,” she said on Fox News on July 11.
“NATO has been a 70-year success story at keeping Russia out. They’ve been a 70-year success story, there’s been no inner conflict between all of those countries,” continued Ms. Haley. “Ukraine has shown their military might, they’ve shown their power, and they’ve shown they would be a fantastic asset to the alliance.
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