One of Vladimir Putin’s propaganda puppets has suggested Russia could launch an attack on the only American state not covered by NATO’s Article 5 collective security guarantee.
Moscow State University dead Andrey Sidorov recently appeared on Russian television in his latest effort to boost support for Putin by arguing the Kremlin could easily take over the state of Hawaii.
Under current regulations, NATO’s Article 5 does not cover the island state because of its geographical position.
The article requires members of the alliance to come to their allies’s aid in the event of a direct attack but the following article of the treaty clarifies the specific areas where it applies.
According to Article 6, “an armed attack on one or more of the Parties is deemed to include an armed attack on the territory of any of the Parties in Europe or North America, on the Algerian Departments of France 2, on the territory of Turkey or on the Islands under the jurisdiction of any of the Parties in the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer.”
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They have argued that the move would also deter China from attacking Taiwan because of the increasing risk of a possible mistake during one of Beijing’s incursions around the island.
Henry Jackson Society’s London chief, Alan Mendoza, insisted extending the areas covered by Article 5 would strengthen the military alliance.
He told Newsweek: “Although NATO was established as a North Atlantic treaty, Hawaii’s exemption was provided before it became an integral part of the USA as one of the 50 states.
“Given NATO’s expansion to fellow democracies not directly bordering the North Atlantic but connected to it regardless, it would make sense to at least consider the idea of extending NATO to include Hawaii at a time of increased need to show Alliance solidarity.
“With the Free World under renewed threat, all measures that increase ties between free and democratic countries should be encouraged.”
