From atlantic-community.org: However, although the members of the Alliance have taken steps to reassure Russia, as a result of their diverging national interests, they have been unwilling to offer marriage. Cohabitation arrangements, such as the NATO-Russia Council, have served useful functions, without offering a satisfactory long-term solution . . .

While the US and its European allies shall not be enticed by Russian mermaids, if Moscow’s inclusion into the Alliance does not deserve serious consideration, ceasing to insist that NATO membership is open to all may constitute a first and wise step in the right direction: only then would the Alliance have the chance of another sixty successful years of thriving existence.