Jack Matlock war (u.a *.) US-Botschafter in Moskau:
»When I hear comments now such as, "Russia has no right to claim a 'sphere of influence,'" I am puzzled. It is not a question of legal "rights" but of probable consequences. It is as if someone announces, "We never passed a law of gravity so we can ignore it."
No one is saying that Ukraine does not have a "right" to apply for NATO membership. Of course it does. The question is whether the members of the alliance would serve their own interest if they agreed. In fact they would assume a very dangerous liability.
I point this out as a veteran of the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. At that time I was assigned to the American embassy in Moscow and it fell to my lot to translate some of Khrushchev's messages to President John Kennedy.
Why is it relevant? Just this: in terms of international law, the Soviet Union had a "right" to place nuclear weapons on Cuba when the Cuban government requested them, the more so since the United States had deployed nuclear missiles of comparable range that could strike the USSR from Turkey.
But it was an exceedingly dangerous move since the United States had total military dominance of the Caribbean and under no circumstances would tolerate the deployment of nuclear missiles in its backyard. Fortunately for both countries and the rest of the world, Kennedy and Khrushchev were able to defuse the situation.«
https://www.krasnoevents.com/uploads/1/1/6/6/116679777/krasno_analysis_-_matlock_ukraine_-_dec._2021.pdf
gruss. luky
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_F._Matlock_Jr.