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Comment: Aricle 5 of The North Atlantic Treaty applies only to attacked states that are members of NATO. Ukraine is not a member of NATO, so Art. 5 cannot be applied to Ukraine. Putin knows about it and he will try to ride the storm until Trump’s inauguration, unless a country that is a member of NATO first attacks Russia, in which case Art. 5 cannot be applied either. This is exactly why Putin is going to take his retaliation to Ukraine, first.