Bob, it is not a "silly argument".
NATO exists only so that the US has a legal "fig leaf" to cover the deployment of US weapons, supplies and troops in European countries so that they can threaten Russia whilst pretending to be simply one more member of a "defensive alliance".
The truth is, NATO is a farce; it is just a way for the US to claim that it is not "occupying" places like Germany and Italy. By keeping NATO around, the US can say, "oh, we are just maintaining our men and material in our allies' countries so that we can better provide for the defense of those countries".
Poppycock. The US is militarily occupying the NATO countries in Central and Eastern Europe, and it is using the other NATO members as weapons and supply depots and billeting stations for forward deployed US forcxes.
That is why the NATO members never bothered to "pay their fair share" of the NATObudget, as Trump said. The other NATO members always saw the alliance for what it really was: a 100% US undertaking, in which they were playing a very minor supporting role.
There are at least 5 NATO countries that stockpile US nuclear missiles and bombs. The nukes still technically belong to the US and are under US control, but the allied servicemen are trained in how to maintain the nuclear weapons, and they are trained in how to deploy those weapons if needed.
Poland and Romania are two NATO allies that have deployed the Aegis Ashore cruise missile launching system.
These systems have the MK-41 "capsule-based" launchers. That means that the launchers can shoot a range of different weapons, depending on what type of "capsule" has been placed in the launcher (like a Keurig coffee machine can dispense dark roast or decaf depending on the capsule inserted into it).
The missile launchers in Poland and Romania are able to launch nuclear-tipped Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Their flight time to Moscow would be less than 10 minutes.
This poses a threat to Russia, as they would have very little time to intercept such missiles.
If Ukraine joins NATO like Poland and Romania did, then the US could station its nuclear missiles and launchers in Eastern Ukraine, where the flight time to Moscow would be so short that the US would have a de facto "fist strike" capability to "decapitate" the Russian Command and Control and eliminate Russia's nuclear deterrence LITERALLY "before the Russians knew what hit them".
That is why this war is an existential one for Russia. If Ukraine becomes a part of NATO, then Russia will lose ITS sovereignty. The US will be able to do anything it wants to Russia. knowing that it can blow up Moscow with impunity on just a few minutes' notice.
