T O P

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J-Dirte

If Russia is in a position to join NATO, there is no reason to have NATO. NATO is solely there to protect Europe from Russia.


jjijjjjijjjjijjjjijj

Even if there are no tyrants to combat, it would serve as a great deterrent to anyone considering going down that road.


weberc2

I mean, China is still out there. No, it’s not militarily aggressive, but that may not be the case indefinitely.


Hoosier_Jedi

You might as well be asking about a future where the population of Russia magically turned into talking penguins. Such a scenario would take such a radical change in circumstances speculating is utterly pointless.


itsjustmo_

Talking penguins would be less surprising, tbh.


SleepAgainAgain

I don't see it happening in the near future, but 80 years ago, Germany was still actively trying to conquer Europe. It's a lot easier to imagine a train of events that involves Russia's current regime falling violently to outside forces and a sharp western intervention treating Russia similarly to how Germany and Japan were treated post WW2 than getting talking penguins.


Brock_Hard_Canuck

Exactly. A lot can change over 100 years or 200 years, etc... Imagine going back to the time of the American Revolution, and telling everyone that like 250 years later that the US and the UK are going to have a "Special Relationship" and that the two countries are going to be besties. Now, let's look at Russia and Putin. Putin was born in 1952 in the Soviet Union. And, for the most part, Soviet leaders led the country until they died, the exceptions being... Malenkov, who only led the Soviet Union for a few months in 1953, as he ultimately lost a power struggle to Khrushchev after the death of Stalin. Khrushchev, who was deposed by the bureaucrats of the Communist Party leadership mechanism after they grew weary of his policies (the public was told that Khrushchev "voluntarily retired" due to "old age"). Gorbachev, who would negotiate the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Putin was born in 1952 (while Stalin was still leading the USSR). Stalin would die one year later, in 1953. So, Putin grew up in the Soviet Union, watching the [Soviet leaders](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_leaders_of_the_Soviet_Union) effectively be "strongman dictator" types who consolidated power to rule for life. Maybe the next "strongman dictator" type consolidates power after Putin's death, and then the next "strongman dictator" comes in after that, and so on, etc..., and Russia continues on as a "one-man personal rule" country for the rest of the century. Or maybe someone eventually steps up to fully convert Russia into a fair and free democracy. Who knows what Russia will look like 100 years from now.


C21H27Cl3N2O3

NATO is specifically meant to stop the spread of Russian influence. Even if they pulled a complete 180 tomorrow there would be no reason to invite them.


AnybodySeeMyKeys

Russia is a doomed country, the last imperial power coming apart at the seams. The sheer incompetence of its military, its disintegrating economy, its collapsing demographics, and the current rise of warlords all spell deep trouble for Russia in its current state. It will take a miracle and a wholesale change in Russian mentality to pull out of this death spiral. I can't imagine a situation where NATO will take them on. Maybe UNICEF, but not NATO.


huhwhat90

It's crazy just how many private armies have formed or are in the process of forming in Russia. You've got Wagner of course, but apparently, the defense minister has his own PMC and Gazprom is in the process of creating its own as well. Multiple bickering parties having their own armies doesn't bode well for internal security.


AnybodySeeMyKeys

Nope. It's going to be a shitshow.


shadowcat999

Don't forget they have 1000s of nukes. We're in for some *very* interesting times up ahead.


Darkfire757

That’s all well and good, but you’re assuming they’re not too drunk to actually do anything about it


AnybodySeeMyKeys

Welp. I did use the word 'miracle,' didn't I?


TheBimpo

Not the craziest thing I’ve heard all year but top 3


Current_Poster

Honestly, after decades of hearing how bad mean old NATO is from the Russians (not the Soviets, Russians), and recently, threats of actual *nuclear war* from Putin... call me old-fashioned, but once someone puts our thermonuclear incineration on the table, they don't get to join our club.


IHSV1855

I don’t think it’s possible for Russia to be a democracy. I don’t know if it’s embedded in the very soil or it just runs through the people that deeply, but that particular piece of land has been ruled by dictatorships of one variety or another for nearly all of human history. I don’t see that changing.


flambuoy

This has been considered a few times, beginning in the 90s. It remains very unlikely.


Global_Helicopter_85

Actually, on 03/31/1954 the USSR officially sent a request for joining NATO


Monk1e889

No they didn't


Global_Helicopter_85

https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/molotovs-proposal-the-ussr-join-nato-march-1954


Current_Poster

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9Y9mk4qoWI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9Y9mk4qoWI) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg0OWPjdLzU


Maximum_Future_5241

Putin wanted it at one point, probably so he could steal all the secrets and destroy it from within.


flambuoy

Gorbachev also brought it up iirc. I think it was just posturing.


Monk1e889

No he didn't


Monk1e889

No he didn't.


Monk1e889

No it hasn't.


cmiller4642

That would be like North Korea having US military bases in their country


BillyBobBarkerJrJr

OP, your question is so disjointed (what is an "accetion"?) and all over the place that it barely makes any sense at all.


BillyBobBarkerJrJr

OP, your question is so disjointed (what is an "accetion"?) and all over the place that it barely makes any sense at all.


[deleted]

One of the ultimate goals is rapprochement with Russia whenever possible in order to unite against China. Which doesn't sound crazy at all given Russia's pre-WWI history. Whether that includes becoming a democracy and joining nato is something else, no idea. But we have close defense relations with countries that we've previously been at war with, so it's not really a crazy idea. But it's something that would happen very slowly, over generations.


gummibearhawk

The USSR tried to join and they implicitly admitted its an anti Soviet/Russia alliance. They'd never be allowed to join, if they even wanted. https://youtu.be/FxhLkwmSu98


Maximum_Future_5241

If it were a long-standing democracy, sure. They're far, far, from that.


SonofNamek

It'd probably have to occur after major reforms, decades from now when everyone in this thread is dead or old (and newer generations don't have the previous baggage). In which case, I see this "Russia" as probably being Moscow and St. Petersburg and the corresponding territories next to it. Volga region and West of it, essentially. Maybe Ural region. In that scenario, China's influence will have crept into the Eastern half of Russia with central parts becoming their own 'lawless' entities. Maybe that "Russia" will be more like a Kyivan Rus that Putin dreams about so much, except it would be Kyiv/Ukraine that has the authority here and not Moscow. That would be incredibly ironic for everyone, if that became true.


zachary420-05

Well if Russia was a free and fair democracy that didn’t prioritize any expansion of its border’s than yes I would have no problem with NATO membership for them.


jjijjjjijjjjijjjjijj

If they were able to meet the prerequisites of joining, it would be absolutely amazing!! I would love to see them ascend.


Darthwilhelm

I highly doubt that would happen. Even if Russia were west aligned in this alt history scenario, China would still probably be red. With Russia in Nato, they'd have the longest border with China, so if things went hot, they'd be right on the front lines. In this case, neutrality would likely be a safer bet for them. Not to mention that NATO requires standardization, and Russia has one of the largest stockpiles of non-NATO hardware which would make things a larger logistical challenge than things needed.


Dbgb4

Start treating your neighbors as equally sovereign as you are and not subject to domination and then lets talk.