The NATO summit pledged more military financial aid for Ukraine. Robert Hunter warned that this could escalate the war into Russia proper. The war delays Ukraine’s membership for an indefinite time. A divided Ukraine will not become NATO member. Russia will recover after 15-20 years and will have to be integrated in European security institutions. Russia’s isolation could lead to the Versailles analogy. Models for post-war Europe could be the Congress of Vienna 1815 or the Summit of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Helsinki 1975. NATO should not expand to Asia and Austria should remain neutral.

Robert E. Hunter served as U.S. ambassador to NATO (1993-98) and on the National Security Council staff throughout the Carter administration. He was Senior Advisor to the RAND Corporation from 1998 to 2011, and Director of the Center for Transatlantic Security Studies at the National Defense University, 2011-2012. He served on the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board and is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy.

Heinz Gärtner is a Professor of Political Science and chair of the advisory board of the International Institute for Peace (IIP) in Vienna. He had research and teaching positions among others at the Universities in Stanford and Oxford, at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington, and at the East-West Security Institute in New York.

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