Ukrainian Leaders: Let Us In NATO!

On January 16 Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and Parliament Chairman Arseny Yatsenyuk made public a joint letter to NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, declaring Ukraine's readiness to advance to a Membership Action Plan (MAP) with NATO and requesting a decision to that end by the Alliance at its Bucharest summit in early April.

The three Ukrainian leaders' letter states that the country sees itself as part of the Euro-Atlantic security space; is determined to counteract threats to common security alongside NATO countries; and is committed to continuing its participation in NATO-led peacekeeping and anti-terrorist operations. The leaders state that progress already achieved within the NATO-Ukraine Intensified Dialogue constitutes a strong basis for advancing to a MAP.

To get this to happen, YuschTymosenyuk are going to have to compaign loooooong and hard to get Ukrainians to want this. There's a deep belief that the US is out to get them...to make them a colony, for goodness sake. They believe if they join NATO that it makes them a colony. Hrm. Someone needs to tell the Canucks and the French that.