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This is Fresh Air.

I'm Terry Gross.

Russia's war in Ukraine is testing NATO.

What can it do to support Ukraine against Russia without leading to World War III?

Russia has bombed the Ukrainian city just 15 miles from the border of Poland and NATO

country.

This week NATO Secretary General said NATO needs to reset its military posture for this

new reality.

President Zelensky has pushed for NATO to admit Ukraine as a member, but this week Zelensky

said he realized that door had been closed.

Putin would see it as a grave threat if Ukraine joined NATO.

That would open the possibility of NATO weapons along the long border shared by Russia and

Ukraine.

My guest Mary Elise Serati is the author of a book about the history of NATO in the years

just before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

It's called Not One Inch, and it helps explain how NATO, Ukraine, and Russia got to where

they are today.

It's based in part on paper she got declassified after fighting for years to get them released.

Serati is the cravis professor of historical studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced

...