Letters | Ask not why Nato is expanding, but why it is showing so much restraint

Readers discuss arguments against Nato’s expansion, and the need to reflect on the destruction caused by war as Armistice Day approaches

Reading Time:2 minutes

People gather to listen a speech by US president Joe Biden at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland, on March 26. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 2:30pm, 5 Nov 2022

Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@scmp.com. Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification.

I cannot but disagree with the letter, “What does Nato gain from its eastward expansion?”(October 19).

Why do countries like Poland join Nato?

Well, in the case of Poland, it had been erased from the map of Europe by neighbouring empires and vowed never to let that happen again. It was not that long ago, when Polish troops surrendered to the Soviet Union after it carved up Poland in 1939, that the communist secret police shot dead over 20,000 military officers, clerics, professors, government officials and anyone of authority in the forest of Katyn near Smolensk.

Was it not the Russian troops who stopped short of the gates of Warsaw in 1944 during the uprising to ensure that a communist regime would take over for more than 40 years?

Why would Nato want countries to join? Eastern Europeans, including all Baltic states, prefer to fight than to yield; they are fiercely independent, as displayed by Ukrainian forces fighting against Russian troops.

To answer the question of why Nato was in Afghanistan, the World Trade Centre in New York was attacked and hence Nato responded.