Russia’s full-scale war and invasion of Ukraine has become one the most condemned invasions in modern history, and the international community’s responses have been appropriate. Enacting an imperial war of conquest, Moscow has paid the price of its actions by becoming the most sanctioned nation on Earth, and dozens of countries have flocked to supply Ukraine with weapons to reclaim their country.

With the most recent United Nations vote of over 130 nations calling for Russian Forces to withdraw from Ukraine. The message has been sent along with NATO rallying behind Kyiv for the long haul: indefinite occupations and annexations cannot be allowed currently, but this has happened under NATO and the EU.

A Lesson from Cyprus

Forty-nine years ago, three of NATO’s most influential members, Turkey, the United States, and Britain, conspired together in one of the most cataclysmic invasions during the Cold War in Cyprus, in 1974.

Cyprus, which had a Greek majority for three millennia, had passed under the suzerainty of several great powers in history. These were the Assyrians, Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Crusaders, Venetians, Ottomans, and the British. The UK had ruled Cyprus since 1878 but formally placed it as a colony in 1925 and was deeply unpopular amongst the Greek Cypriot majority compared to the Turkish Cypriot minority, leading to armed clashes for several years.