https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/fact-russia-pitch...
Ukraine status as an ally is the whole point here. As I understand it they were "given" crimea in the assumption things would stay cool. Since NATO is hostile to Russia/USSR (they decline their membership, why would that be?), the Ukraine joining would mean Russia could never get "it's army base" back. See how difficult the US does today (pay 1B if you make us leave our base in Iraq + sanctions thread)? Why should Russia not be protective of it's interests?
That "ally" thing is quite a sick reasoning. There's always some group in a country that one can say is it's ally. South-Vietnam was the ally! South-Korea! The common people of Iraq/Libia/Syria/Afganistan! The people on Crimea! Sure that allegation needs some substance...
I live in neither country. And I have some anti-state tendencies in general. But the NATO is clearly no all "love and peace" as their PR dept makes it seem.
It seems like accepting Soviet/Russian proposal would have had the effect of 1) limiting the criticism of Soviet human rights abuses and 2) weakening the ability of democratic western countries to resist aggression by the authoritarian Soviets.
I think it was the right call for NATO to reject this proposal. If it had been accepted, maybe we'd still have the Soviet Union around in 2020.
From your link:
> Molotov wrote. “The USSR joining the North Atlantic Pact simultaneously with the conclusion of a General European Agreement on Collective Security in Europe would also undermine plans for the creation of the European Defense Community and the remilitarization of West Germany.”
> But Molotov did foresee problems in the event the Soviet Union became a NATO member. NATO would likely insist on democratic institutions while the Soviet Union considered the Westphalian concept of sovereignty sacrosanct. “If the question of the USSR joining it became a practical proposition, it would be necessary to raise the issue of all participants in the agreement undertaking a commitment (in the form of a joint declaration, for example) on the inadmissibility of interference in the internal affairs of states and respect for the principles of state independence and sovereignty,” Molotov wrote.
