Sweden is likely to become the 32nd member of NATO, essentially turning the Baltic Sea into a NATO lake
leaders in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital, opened in dramatic fashion on July 10th. On the eve of the gathering, which begins formally on July 11th, Turkey lifted its hold on Sweden’s application to join the alliance. It means that Sweden is likely to become the 32nd member oflake and potentially ending a saga that has dragged on for more than a year.officials warn that Swedish membership is not a done deal.
The relief over Sweden’s progress will be short-lived. The thorniest challenge at the summit is how to handle Ukraine’s bid formembership. In 2008, at a summit in Bucharest, the allies agreed that Ukraine and Georgia “will become members of”, but did not say how or when. Many now believe that was the worst of all worlds: a red rag to Russia, without any benefit to Ukraine.
America and Ukraine seem to be talking past one another, suggests Eric Ciaramella of the Carnegie Endowment, a think-tank in Washington. Ukraine sees the question ofmembership in symbolic terms, he suggests, as a signal to Russia. America takes a legalistic approach. “There is a very serious concern about advancing the language in a way that we have no clear path to…make good on that promise,” says Mr Ciaramella.
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