Lithuanian Eglė Gerulaitytė wrote this on her FB on 25 February 2025:
On NATO, Freeloaders, and Great Deals: Why You Can’t Grab Ukraine By Her Minerals
Dear American friends,
Do you know when NATO Article 5 was invoked? The one and only time in NATO’s history? And who was the beneficiary?
It was in the fall of 2001. Invoked by the NATO allies in support of the USA.
After 9/11.
Do you remember what your European allies did then? Did they send their vice presidents to an American security council to lecture you on your domestic policy or school you about your democratic processes?
No.
We sent troops and intelligence. UK, France, Germany, Denmark, Poland, the Baltic States, those same “freeloaders” – ALL sent support. ALL fought alongside you. So did Ukraine, which you say does not deserve to be a part of NATO.
In your hour of need, Ukraine sent troops, instructors, and medical personnel to support Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Ukraine opened its airbases and airspace to the allied NATO forces. Yes, the same Ukraine you think is for sale now.
And do you remember what russia did after 9/11? True, the war criminal in the Kremlin was the first to call President Bush to express condolences. Think it was genuine? Think again – back then, Moscow was stuck in the Second Chechen war, and pootin’s only reason to express “condolences” and “support” to the USA after 9/11 was to be able to get a license to kill freely in Chechnya (“Mr.Bush, we get you, we have the same terrorism problem in our backyard” – not exactly very elegant, but it worked).
So besides that calculated phone call, do you remember how russia supported the US after 9/11 exactly? They opened a couple of field hospitals in Kabul for the allied forces. Yes, a couple of hospitals. Truly generous. Then again, they were too busy razing Grozny to the ground at the time; gotta give em some slack.
Now to the freeloading part. Remember the “pivot to Asia”, declared by President Obama in 2011? When the US began shifting its sights from the western hemisphere toward China? And in 2014, when russia annexed Crimea and the American investment in the European defense continued to decline?
No?
That’s OK.
Because you’re right, Europe should have done a hell of a lot more for its own security. Western Europe fell asleep, addicted to cheap russian gas and oil (some really, really great deals there, ones that we’ll be paying for with euros, instability, and, likely, blood for years to come). The EU should have done more, I agree wholeheartedly; we fucked up, and we need to do better.
But imagine if this was our reaction after 9/11. If, instead of coming to your aid, we would have said, well, tell you what, how about you give us the rights to 50% of your minerals? And throw in Texas and a bit of Oregon, too. It’s just some territory, what’s the matter?
In fact, America, sit this one out, why don’t you. You started this. You’ve got a dictator with a 4% approval rating in office and, you know, Bin Laden is a great guy, a really strong leader, we
can achieve peace with terrorists in a day if you just stop being so upset about it, jeez. How would you have felt then?
Because that’s how we feel when you call Zelensky a “dictator” and blame Ukraine for “starting the war”. That’s how we feel when the USA votes “against” the UN resolution to call russia out for its brutal and unlawful aggression against Ukraine. USA, voting “against”. Alongside Belarus, Burundi, Eritrea, russia, Sudan, and North Korea. Interesting company you keep these days.
Then again, your current administration and foreign policy isn’t about feelings or values, is it? It’s about deals, money, and transactions, so let’s talk about that.
Say you don’t want to keep spending money on NATO and Transatlantic security. You make it sound like it’s handouts from the mighty USA to the rest of the world. Charity. Unnecessary expenses. Right?
Here’s the thing. Those “unnecessary expenses” are for YOUR security, too. Mr. Trump has said that there is a whole big, beautiful ocean between America and war-torn Europe, but here’s a cute fact: the distance between Alaska and russia is 53 miles across the Bering Strait. Yes, geography is pesky like that.
Would you rather be surrounded by stable, secure, and allied nations that share the same values and the same principles of democracy, fundamental human rights, and a rules-based international order – because that’s what you’re spending on – or would you rather be surrounded by hostile authoritarian states who view the world as up for grabs the second you look away?
So as you rush to shake hands with the internationally wanted war criminal in the Kremlin, remember Yalta. You probably don’t, just like you don’t seem to recall the Budapest Memorandum, so here’s a quick recap: Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin gather in Yalta, Crimea, in February 1945 to make a Great Deal, a really great deal.
The aim is to shape the postwar peace; the Baltics and most of Eastern Europe isn’t at the table, we’re on the menu, much like right now. Churchill is the only one advocating for Poland’s and Eastern Europe’s right to choose their own destiny, but Stalin wants his “zone of influence”, while Roosevelt looks to the Pacific.
Sound familiar?
Did Yalta ensure peace and prosperity with that Great Deal? No. It carved up Europe and led to almost fifty years of brutal Soviet occupation, mass killings, deportations to Siberian gulags, torture, rape, resource plundering, and repressions in Eastern Europe and Ukraine.
You know, those “influence zones”. Those grey blobs on the map. As someone from one of those grey blobs on the map, I wonder if you’ve ever seen a russian tank up close and personal. I have.
It’s a pretty primitive and unwieldy thing, as tanks go. But I tell you what, it’s quite excellent at crushing limbs. Really quite effective.
Still; in 1990, the Baltics stood up the Soviet tanks with a chain of hands and a song.
And we’ll do it again, alongside Ukraine.
With or without you. I get it, you’re a bit busy right now. Maybe a little confused.
It’s OK: we’re not.
We’ll be here when you discover who you are at your core again, America. The land of the free and the home of the brave.
We know you’re in there somewhere.