Afrasianet - After the constant urging and apparent blackmail by the United States to Western countries that classify them as allies, to provide Ukraine with more weapons and military equipment, Ukraine is openly turning to seek human support as well, after its losses reached a great extent, as acknowledged by many military leaders in the West, although Ukraine has always concealed its losses.
"I advise all critics to shut up," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Spain, referring to those who assert the failure of the so-called Ukrainian counter-offensive and to come to Ukraine and try to free one square centimeter themselves.
This is of course directed at NATO, which is working mainly to expand its expansion to include more countries, even if their annexation contradicts NATO's laws on the annexation of these countries. So what's going on?
Here we must talk about the hysteria that afflicted the United States and its allies as a result of the failure of everything it tried to do against Russia through sanctions and then unlimited military support for Ukraine, which could not change anything in the equation of the nature of Ukrainian losses and behind them the losses of the West.
NATO did not stop violating its laws, but pushed what was hidden from the fact that it is crudely hostile to Islam and Muslims and that it has turned into a club for Christian countries, as is the case in the European Union, which once revealed the orientation of the Union through one of its officials, who said commenting on Turkey's accession to the Union, which is long awaited: Turkey should not dream of joining the European Union because it is a club for Christians and there is no place for a Muslim country like Turkey to join this Union.
NATO has witnessed 8 waves of expansion, as a result of which the number of its members has increased to 30 countries currently, and it is expected that NATO will witness in the foreseeable future a new wave of expansion, (the sixth since the dissolution of the Soviet Union), after Finland and Sweden announced their intention to join NATO. Finland has already joined.
NATO was established on April 4, 1949 with the participation of 12 countries, namely the United States, Britain, France, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Iceland.
The first wave - February 18, 1952 (Greece and Turkey)
Second wave - May 9, 1955 (West Germany)
Third wave - May 30, 1982 (Spain)
Fourth wave - March 12, 1999 (Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic)
Fifth wave - March 29, 2004 (Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia)
Sixth Wave - 1 April 2009 (Albania and Croatia)
Seventh wave - June 5, 2017 (Montenegro)
Eighth wave March 27, 2020 (North Macedonia)
NATO's expansion after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 contradicts verbal pledges made by the West to Moscow in the early 1990s, as well as the principle of equal and indivisible security enshrined in the Charter for European Security adopted within the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
NATO has turned into a quasi-military state trying to play the role of policeman in the world to establish the hegemony of the United States of America, which dominates NATO's programs and orientations, NATO has conducted dozens of operations around the world, including Yugoslavia, Libya, Afghanistan, the Mediterranean, the Horn of Africa, Iraq and Somalia, in some cases in cooperation with countries outside the alliance.
NATO first used military force against another country on Feb. 28, 1994, shooting down four Serbian fighter jets for allegedly violating the no-fly zone by bombing positions in Bosnia's capital, Sarajevo.
Officially, NATO carried out its first military operation under the name of "deliberate force", when it launched intensive air strikes in Yugoslavia, especially using internationally banned depleted uranium bombs, which, according to local authorities, killed at least 5.7 thousand people, including 400 children.
On October 7, 2001, NATO forces intervened in Afghanistan with a military campaign directed against the Taliban, and remained there until August last year, when the movement was able, against the backdrop of the withdrawal of NATO forces, to return to power after the collapse of the Western-backed government.
In March 2011, a Western coalition of NATO countries began an air military operation in Libya in support of forces opposed to Muammar Gaddafi, which ended following the killing of the Libyan leader on October 20, 2011.
In addition to more than 20,000 deaths, NATO's intervention in Libya played a direct role in the collapse of state institutions in that country, bringing disastrous consequences for the region and becoming one of the most important factors in the wave of migration that Europe faced in the second decade of the 21st century.
Ukrainians view membership as a way to end the war by deterring Russia rather than escalating it. They acknowledge, as US President Joe Biden has made clear in recent days, Ukraine's need for reforms that any potential member should undertake.
But they argue that NATO was founded to confront Moscow in the Cold War, yet it is now Ukraine that is actively fighting on behalf of NATO, defending its eastern flank against Russia, at a time when it is losing the lives of its soldiers and civilians every day.
For many in Kiev, the focus of some within the alliance on the dangers of inviting Ukraine to join is a mistake. And they ask: What are the risks of not moving?
Ukrainian officials are wary of openly optimistic and do not engage in any discussion about the consequences when they receive vague promises and lost "security guarantees." They don't want to appear ungrateful, about the weapons and ammunition they still need right now.
Without formal membership, there is a fear that the West will tire of supplying Ukraine with the weapons and ammunition it needs as the war continues. This is something that Vladimir Putin and Russia depend on.
Returning to Sweden's application to join NATO, under normal circumstances, joining NATO requires a long period of negotiations, but given the current geopolitical context, Sweden is expected to undergo a faster process, but the decision must be ratified by all thirty members unanimously.
Turkey's concerns about counterterrorism efforts have halted NATO's inclusion of some northern countries, which are often considered a safe haven for terrorists linked to the YPG/BYD (PKK arms in Syria) and Gulen.
Initially, Sweden gave lip service to Ankara's demands without taking appropriate action.
Turkey believes that allies (or future allies) should develop mutual trust and a unified stance against terrorism.
Finland's admission to NATO was finally accepted when Turkey agreed to do so in April 2023.
However, Stockholm has pursued a kind of brinkmanship, allowing provocative demonstrations by YPG/BYD supporters in the streets, along with a worrying escalation of anti-Islamic incidents such as the burning of copies of the Holy Quran, under the pretext of freedom of expression.
As the brinkmanship strategy in Stockholm provoked Ankara's backfire, Swedish policymakers began to retreat in the run-up to the NATO summit.
Consequently, the Swedish parliament significantly tightened the legal framework for combating terrorism, leading to a collective compromise that satisfies all parties involved.
NATO has always claimed that there are new threats to Western security such as China and Russia, and even the integration of climate change with our safety, making Thucydides Trap an endless game for NATO.
The Thucydides' trap, also referred to as Thucydides' Trap, is a term popularized by American political scientist Cram Allison to describe a clear tendency toward war when an emerging power threatens to displace an existing superpower as a regional or international hegemon.
Extremist anti-Islamic acts have been renewed in Sweden, coinciding with the first day of Eid al-Adha, and with it Stockholm's hopes of a close accession to NATO conditional on the approval of Turkey, which is angry about the "despicable" burning of the Koran repeated for the second time this year.
A new bypass... In front of the Stockholm Central Mosque and during a demonstration that broke out, on the first day of Eid al-Adha, a man tore a Quran and set it on fire among about two hundred people, some shouting in Arabic "Allahu Akbar," while another tried to throw a stone before being arrested by police.
The demonstration was officially regular and not illegal, as the Swedish police allowed it and granted it a permit, after it rejected several requests to burn the Qur'an, recently, but a court ruling overturned this decision as violating the freedom of expression guaranteed by the country.
In a provocative manner, one of the organizers of the demonstration tore pages from the Koran and "wiped his shoes with them before putting pork in them and setting them on fire," according to news agencies including Reuters.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan condemned the incident of burning the Quran, describing it as a "despicable act", stressing his country's refusal to allow anti-Islam protests in the name of freedom of expression.
Fidan wrote on his Twitter account: "I condemn the despicable protest in Sweden against our Bible on the first day of Eid al-Adha." "It is unacceptable to allow anti-Islam protests in the name of freedom of expression."
Would the move derail Sweden's significant progress with Turkey to accept NATO after more than a year of negotiations?
Prime Minister Ulf Christerschon says at a news conference that he cannot predict how much the demonstration that saw the burning of the Koran will affect his country's accession to NATO.
In late January this year, Turkey suspended talks with Sweden on its NATO application after the leader of a far-right Danish party burned a copy of the Koran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
This is not the first time Sweden has seen demonstrations punctuated by attempts to burn copies of the Koran, under police protection.
In January, a far-right anti-immigration politician burned a Koran near the Turkish embassy, and many Muslim and Western countries called for concrete steps against Islamophobia.
The calls were accompanied by official statements of condemnation from prominent institutions, including the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Al-Azhar University, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the Turkish Foreign Ministry, calling it a crossing of red lines.
After all, NATO does not consider this matter as a sign of a country full of hatred, trying to subject Turkey to the approval of this annexation, while Turkey is hesitant and has not yet made up its mind, although the language of interests sometimes goes beyond the moral issues required to be dealt with between countries.