The Polish Seimas held a moment of silence in commemoration of two Polish men killed by a Ukrainian missile in a border village. “We remember the dead and arm the Ukrainians” – this is the general message of the West after the bloody incident. At one of America’s late-night analytical humor shows, a few days after the Nov. 15 incident, comedian Trevor Noah shortened the resolution of the situation to his audience of millions with “the good news that BORN no need to go to war with Russia”. Meanwhile, here in Europe, not a single academic and politician has called for the activation of NATO’s Article 5 in the first day after the incident. Let us explain why it didn’t happen.
For the sake of clarity, it should be emphasized that already on the evening of the accident, when the first information indicated that a NATO plane had crashed directly in Poland of Russia rocket, no less than a wing of the political and academic establishment immediately tried to appease the arms dealers, which is not always the way things happen. As an argument, it was mentioned that only the Kremlin wants it, like publicly losing NATO in the war for Ukraineand the aspect that such a breakthrough would turn Russia’s false propaganda, which has been spreading the message that it has been at war against NATO or all of the West since the invasion began, into a tangible reality.
However, the majority noted that there is a specific and agreed mechanism for applying Article 5 in the foundations themselves. “Dear friends, there is no such thing as “5. Activation of the article”. This does not happen automatically. There is no laser beam that opens the door when approaching, such as in a hotel or a shop. Article 5 is a political decision. In this case, the council Article 4 seems appropriate until we have more facts,” retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, former US Army Europe commander, tweeted shortly after the incident. Moreover, Hodges does not hide that he wants to see more active arming of Ukraine and its victory.
You should get unambiguous clarity
Among other things, the opinion was expressed that what happened was a test for the North Atlantic Alliance – how quickly it will react and what it will do. Such an approach suggests that NATO’s Article 5 requires the immediate involvement of all countries in the alliance bloc, and consequently refraining from jumping into the fight shows weakness or disagreement. It’s not at all.
