Rebellion by Capitol Hill Republicans Against Ukraine Joining NATO

July 9, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham’s resolution to get Ukraine into NATO has prompted significant pushback from Republican colleagues. On July 7 Graham had claimed: “Ukrainian NATO membership is vital to the future security of Europe and the world. I believe there is an overwhelming majority of senators supporting this proposition.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) tweeted the same day: “Absolutely not. That is exactly wrong—as usual—and could very well lead us to war with Russia, something no one should want.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) added: “This is madness. Everyone in Washington should be urging peace and stopping the war in Ukraine, not bringing us to the brink of World War III.” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) stated that bringing Ukraine into NATO “would mean American troops on the ground in Ukraine. The American people would not stand by and allow our troops to go die in someone else’s war.” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), called NATO a “Cold War relic” in a tweet, saying NATO expansions had led to the rise of Putin and the conflict in Ukraine. “Expanding NATO further is not in the interests of US citizens.”

Republican Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy tweeted the strongest rebuke of Graham’s proposal yesterday:

“Joe Biden needs to man up to his bully-friend Zelensky & clearly state that we are dead-set opposed to Ukrainian admission to NATO. This should be a hard red line. It’s shameful that even Republicans like Lindsey Graham are now pushing for it. Stop marching us to the brink of nuclear war. For all the hand-wringing about the 1994 Budapest Memorandum (on which the U.S. has more than fulfilled its commitments), the neocon-Democrat establishment is shockingly silent on James Baker’s famous 1990 ‘Not-One-Inch’ commitment to Gorbachev that NATO would never extend east of Germany. NATO was created to deter conflict with the USSR, yet NATO has expanded most rapidly after the fall of the USSR & is now worsening the risk of nuclear war with Russia itself. This is sheer lunacy. As President I’ll refuse to be bullied by an anti-democratic comedian-turned-leader & it’s truly mystifying to me that the rest of the West is eating out of this Pied Piper’s hand every day.” (Emphasis in original.)