A proposal to end Russia's war against Ukraine
NATO should invoke Article 12 of the North Atlantic Treaty to "review" and amend the Treaty. Allow new members with a majority vote. Invite Ukraine to join immediately.
Executive Summary
Incoming US President Donald Trump has given the green light to our enemies, Russia and China, to engage in territorial expansion.
Vladimir Putin seeks to retore the Russian Empire. He will not stop at Kyiv. Putin has enlisted the help of North Korea’s 1.2 million man army.
NATO should invoke Article 12 to “review” and amend the North Atlantic Treaty to allow the addition of new members, or the removal of existing members, by a majority vote. NATO should vote to bring Ukraine into NATO immediately, and send troops to Ukraine to help them fight for survival and repel Russian aggressors. If Ukraine falls, the world map will be reprinted as directed by Putin and Xi.
Work with the EU and other nations to eliminate all air travel to Russia, worldwide. Airlines/nations must be forced to choose. Do they want airline connections to Moscow & Saint Petersburg, Russia? Or, do they want routes to Paris, Frankfurt, New York and Sydney? Remove other sanction loopholes.
Release all frozen Russian assets to Ukraine immediately, without conditions, to be used to fight for their survival and rebuild cities and infrastructure.
A plea to the NATO Secretary General
Democratic nations of the world have never been in the danger they are now, at least not in the last 90 years. Russian atrocities in Ukraine after almost 3 years has killed tens of thousands of Ukrainians, destroyed cities, schools, cultural centers, and infrastructure.
Russia and China are engaging in “hybrid warfare” against other western nations, sabotaging communications cables and gas pipelines. Oligarchs in control of gigantic media platforms are eroding civil discourse and democratic norms with massive disinformation campaigns. They are working to install leaders of their own choosing in long-time democratic nations.
In the past, the EU, NATO members, and other democracies could avoid their responsibilities to support global security, and were even selling weapons and state-of-the-art military technology to Russia. I addressed this issue in my earlier Substack article entitled “European Union Arms Sales to Russia is Inexcusable.” Some western allies were supporting Russia’s military with impunity, knowing that the United States had their back if things turned sour.
But with Donald Trump’s return to the White House, US support for allies is in grave danger. Mr. Trump has self-described friendships with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, and a known affinity for brutal, fascist dictators.
The BBC reported in August 2024 that Mr. Trump believes that his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is a “key achievement of his presidency. He famously said the two ‘fell in love’ exchanging letters. … He told a rally Mr. Kim would like to see him back in office: ‘I think he misses me, if you want to know the truth’.”
In an article posted to the CNN website on March 28, 2022 entitled “Donald Trump just can’t stop praising Vladimir Putin”, reporter Chris Cillizza recounts Mr. Trump talking about Vladimir Putin. At a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago on February 23, 2022, Trump said “He’s taking over a country for two dollars’ worth of sanctions. I’d say that’s pretty smart. He’s taking over a country – really a vast, vast location, a great piece of land with a lot of people, and just walking right in.” The article provides a link to the video of Mr. Trump’s remarks.
Emulating Mr. Putin, Donald Trump has been threatening to use force to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal, and to impose tariffs on Canada to force it to become the 51st state. At a January 7, 2025 press conference, he said that he would not rule out using force or economic coercion to achieve his goals, stating “I’m not gonna commit to that. No. It might be that you’ll have to do something … We need them for economic security.” Among other things, Trump and his oligarch supporters want to strip mine Greenland for its rare earth minerals.
Trump is giving the “green light” to our enemies, Russia and China, to engage in territorial expansion.
World leaders need to understand that Trump's absurd fascist rants about acquiring Greenland, the Panama Canal, and Canada are not "bluster" or playing 3-D chess. Whether or not he will actually destroy the respect that the world has for America by illegally employing military force or economic coercion against peaceful, sovereign states, the real goal of Mr. Trump’s aggressive posture is to give the green light to our enemies, Russia and China, to engage in territorial expansion.
With Mr. Trump as President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, America is now a questionable supporter of world peace and global security.
Mr. Trump initiated two coup attempts in 2021, one of which was the violent insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 in an effort to prevent the electoral count. He and his supporters were also responsible for the fake elector scheme in numerous states.
As Mr. Trump was unwilling to adhere to the United States Constitution, what makes anyone think that he would adhere to NATO’s North Atlantic Treaty Article 5, to send troops to support a member attacked?
NATO is still pursuing a flawed policy of giving Kyiv just enough arms to exist, but not enough to win. The war of attrition waged by Putin is not only designed to kill Ukrainians who can’t afford troop losses in the same proportion as Moscow, but he is also pursuing a scorched earth policy. Even if the war ends with a sovereign Ukraine, Putin intends to convey to the world that failing to adhere to his edicts will – at best – be a Pyrrhic victory, because he intends for there to be nothing of value left to exist.
The free world has insufficiently addressed Putin’s poisonings in the UK, and his suspected involvement in the Havana Syndrome attacks on US government employees – very likely by Russian use of an energy weapon.
Phillips Payson O’Brien, Ph.D. has an important piece in The Atlantic, entitled “A Wider War Has Already Started in Europe”, in which he argues that “Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is only the most conspicuous part of what looks like an ever more globalized war.” He concludes that “The first vital step in this realization is to acknowledge what’s already happening: Call a war a war.”
China also appears to be connected to the hybrid warfare, as many of the ships used in the sabotage of data lines, electric cables, and gas pipelines are Chinese-flagged and/or Chinese-owned vessels.
What’s more, the Chinese attack on infrastructure isn’t just in Europe, but also in Asia. The government of Taiwan has stated that the anchor of cargo vessel Shunxing39 severed an important undersea data cable on 3 January 2025. The ship is reportedly registered to a Hong Kong company owned by a Chinese national. And then there’s the harassment of Asian ships in international waters, and the operation of Chinese secret police stations in foreign countries which target dissidents.
There are deep divisions within NATO as to whether Ukraine should be granted membership in the organization, and if so, when and under what conditions. Sadly, several NATO members are parroting Putin’s propaganda. A few NATO members appear to be actual Putin stooges, but I suspect that a few others are (again!) willing to sacrifice Ukraine in order to cancel sanctions against Russia, restart the Russian dirty money laundromat, and resume no-limits trade with Moscow.
An article in Politico reports that “Europe is buying Russian gas at an unprecedented rate in 2025, spending billions of dollars the Kremlin can use to fund its war in Ukraine just weeks after the end of a major transit agreement raised hopes the continent may break its dependency on Moscow.”
Some world leaders have expressed confidence that, with Trump’s reputation for transactional decision-making, they can “do a deal” with Mr. Trump. They can try, but I believe it’s naïve in the extreme, because it’s likely that a “deal” has already been made – a deal between Trump and Putin!
If you would like a look inside the mind of incoming Commander in Chief Donald J. Trump, I call your attention to the following articles:
Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’
John Kelly goes on the record to confirm several disturbing stories about Trump
Trump’s threats to Milley fuel fears he’ll seek vengeance in second term
The Patriot - How General Mark Milley protected the Constitution from Donald Trump
What Kind of ‘Psycho’ Calls Dead Americans ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’?
What should NATO do now?
The agenda:
1. Amend the North Atlantic Treaty by allowing the addition of new members by a majority vote, and the removal of existing members by a majority vote. Mr. Rutte should convene a meeting of the heads of state of member nations. Invoke North Atlantic Treaty Article 12 to “review” and amend applicable articles of the treaty. The meeting could be conducted by a secure video link, and the decisions reached will only require a majority vote. Article 12 is worded very broadly, and it should be interpreted as such.
The NATO website states the alliance prides itself on being able to conduct business “by consensus”, where – according to the NATO website – “Consensus decision-making means that there is no voting at NATO. Consultations take place until a decision that is acceptable to all is reached.” That may have been practical when there were 12 founding members of NATO in 1949, but not when there are 32 members in 2025. It is not practical when a single member can blackmail or obstruct the urgent needs of the alliance for their own benefit – and it is especially unworkable when some of the members have an affinity for relations with Vladimir Putin when the world is on the brink of WWIII.
Contrary to the public relations messages coming out of Brussels, there is absolutely no “consensus” as to the future plans of NATO. Everyone knows it, including Mr. Putin and Mr. Xi. A continuation of the status quo could very well result in WWIII.
Why do I advocate that even votes of enormous importance should only require a majority of members, such as a decision whether to bring in new members or remove existing members? Shouldn’t a supermajority (such as 2/3 of the members) be required for important votes? No, because with trade, interconnected electrical transmission lines, and other political considerations, it will be exceedingly difficult to reach a supermajority threshold.
2. Vote to bring Ukraine into NATO immediately. If one or more of the NATO members objects, the North Atlantic Treaty Article 5 allows each member to decide for itself whether to send troops or take other action.
Members who don’t agree with a decision decided by majority vote also have the option to leave the organization. However, members who obstruct the alliance or don’t pull their weight could potentially be voted out of NATO – which is not a desirable position when the threat of war is present.
If Putin wins in Ukraine, he is not going to stop at Kyiv.
An extremely meaty and concisely-written article by Nathan Hodge in June 2022, entitled “Restoration of empire is the endgame for Russia’s Vladimir Putin”, is worth your time. Mr. Hodge is a senior editor at CNN in London. His biography is here.
Also of importance is a recent Politico article entitled “Zelenskyy warns Europe: You guys are doomed without us”. According to Politico, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine told Poland’s Onet, “Europe without the Ukrainian army will not cope with the Russian army, because it is larger in terms of numbers. Russia has more weapons, more people and is [crueller] than the Europeans.”
3. NATO members should immediately send troops into Ukraine to help them fight for survival and repel Russian aggressors. With Russia enlisting the help of North Korea’s 1.2 million man army, and the use of drones from Iran, Ukraine needs NATO troops to survive. If NATO doesn’t help, and Ukraine falters, the world map will be reprinted as directed by Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
4. Work with the EU and other nations to eliminate all air travel to Russia, worldwide. It should be an easy decision, because Russia is already blowing up aircraft and spoofing GPS navigation. Airlines/nations must be forced to choose: Do they want airline connections to Moscow & Saint Petersburg, Russia? Or, do they want routes to Paris, Frankfurt, New York, and Sydney? There are still a substantial number of nations with air travel to Russia, as shown on Wikipedia’s list of air carriers and their destinations from Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow. Enact the new rule on 72 hours notice! No exceptions! Yes, there will be some loss of trade and inconveniences, but if World War III breaks out it will be much worse. The elimination of sanction loopholes should also be pursued.
5. Urge the European Union to offer the United Kingdom membership in the EU on the same terms as they enjoyed before the Brexit vote. The UK is still too much in a state of shock to ask. Russian disinformation was largely responsible for the UK's Brexit vote in 2016. A strong UK will remain an asset to NATO. A crippled UK will doom the alliance.
6. Release all frozen Russian assets to Ukraine immediately, without conditions, to be used to fight for their survival and to rebuild cities and infrastructure. Funds in the amount of $300 Billion are being held in western banks, which could potentially be used by Ukraine to purchase arms and rebuild cities and infrastructure caused by Russia’s brutal invasion. Europe is apparently fighting to prevent those funds from even being placed in an escrow account, which would later be released to Russia – in full – if and when a peace deal is reached. According to CNN, European objections stem from the belief that any transfer would be in violation of international law, oblivious to the reality that Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine was the ultimate violation of international law.
Conclusion
Remember the words of chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov: “The price of stopping a dictator always goes up. What would have been enough to stop Putin eight years, or six months, or two weeks ago, is not enough today, and the price will rise again tomorrow. Fight. Find a way."