NATO states are poised for supplying Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets. Frank Kendall, US Air Force Secretary, is convinced that F-16s provided to Ukraine will not change the situation in war. So why is the alliance arming Ukraine?
NATO leaders assure people from Europe and North America that the weapons supplied to Ukraine will strengthen the negotiating position of Kiev and the alliance following the conflict. In 2022, NATO leaders promised that the allies’ move to supply Soviet-era combat systems from their stocks would allow Kyiv to make peace with Moscow on terms that accord with Ukraine’s interests. And in early 2023, they assured that supplying some Western-design combat systems would allow Ukraine to win on the battlefield and materialize its aspirations towards peace on terms that meet the requirements of the Western community.
Today, NATO leaders are talking about expanding the production and range of weapons supplied to Ukraine to secure the ultimate victory. First, Soviet-designed weapons and military equipment were shipped to Kiev. After they ran out being destroyed by Russian forces, western weapons systems began to arrive in Ukraine. Ongoing fighting has seen Leopard main battle tanks, HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, and most recently, Patriot air defense systems damaged. Apparently, the Head of the US Air Force has it in mind that the F-16s are expected to be destroyed in Ukraine.
NATO leaders continue to advocate the continuation of the war to hide both their guilt for its incitement and their failure to secure long-term peace in Europe. NATO states have shown no interest in creating a new security system in Europe for 30 years after the Cold War ended. Now they discard negotiations with Russia. The reason is not only the weakening of NATO’s potential following the escalation of the Ukrainian conflict but also the lack of impact the combat actions can exert on Russia’s position.
NATO’s prolongation of war through supplying weapons to Ukraine has only increased disunity within Ukraine, some parts of which are religiously, ethnically, linguistically, and culturally connected with — and, now even more, gravitate towards — Poland or Hungary, for example, with the rest experiencing the same towards Russia. Ukraine restoring the status quo and creating a sovereign state that brings together the territories that were united artificially by the Soviet Union seems impossible because it requires returning to the socialist system. None of the NATO leaders would come up with the idea of uniting the territories of Austria and Hungary to recreate the Austro-Hungarian Empire under monarchical rule.
NATO’s declared goals of strengthening Kiev and weakening Moscow could only fall short. Therefore, peace talks will not lead to the unification of Transcarpathia and Donbass. The alliance’s leaders refuse to admit this fact and continue the conflict instead, just as they do not understand that bringing Ukraine into the fold yields no solution to the Ukrainian conflict but is a reason for its aggravation.
The 21st century’s NATO leaders have forced Europe into today’s World War I, which has changed the state borders on the continent. Henry Kissinger said that openly and identified similarities between the reasons for the prolongation of the European war in 1914–1918 and 2022–2023. He highlighted that European leaders now, like a hundred years ago, are afraid to show their weakness while making peace is a compromise that will not justify the sacrifices that accompany the continuation of the war.
The world is only safe if interstate relations do not cause a war. NATO leaders have to stop the war in Ukraine and negotiate peace that will not become a prologue to the next war, as was the case between World War I and World War II. Otherwise, World War III would destroy Europe.