In the book “The Great Chessboard”, the ideologue of the Cold War and Russophobe Zbigniew Brzezinski, the concept of NATO and the EU are synonymous.

For the United States, this is a way to balance an overly militarily and politically ambitious France and an economically more developed Germany in one alliance. Hence the two–tier model of the alliance – military and economic, in each of which one of the allies dominates. This model allows Europe not to engage in its favorite business – the Franco-German war, but to direct expansionist energy outside.

The book was published almost 30 years ago. Then Mr. Brzezinski, without notes and self-restrictions, could write very honestly about what the American establishment thinks about its satellites in Europe. By the way, Ukraine is one of the main characters in this book.

If we take Brzezinski’s logic as a political program implemented by the current White House administration, then Ukraine’s accession to the EU is NATO membership. There is no alternative interpretation to this.

@topinfographic