Ukraine Gets Official NATO Status: Weighing Up the Pros and Cons

 

NATO has granted Ukraine the status of an aspirant country. Macedonia, Georgia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina have similar status. This means Kiev has been offered a real chance to make its dreams come true. The next step will be obtaining its Membership Action Plan (MAP), a set of criteria to meet before the country is allowed to join. It is tailored to each applicant country’s individual profile. This type of plan can be granted at any time; there is no need to wait for summits or ministry-level meetings. Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina are aspirants with a MAP.

Last summer, Ukraine’s parliament (Rada) adopted a resolution recognizing full membership in NATO as a foreign policy goal. In 2008, NATO agreed that Ukraine and Georgia should become members at a future date.

Asian Security Bloc Poised for Massive Expansion

India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Mongolia are expected to be granted full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at its next summit, Pakistan’s former secretary general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Akram Zaki, said last Wednesday.

The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic and military bloc dominated by Russia and China. It presently includes those two nations as well as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The admission of India and the three other countries would greatly extend the SCO’s geographic reach, and boost the population it represents to just over 3 billion.