NATO to meet on Wednesday at request of Poland for consultations - diplomats

NATO ambassadors will meet on Wednesday at the request of Poland on basis of the alliance's Article 4, two European diplomats told Reuters after an explosion in Poland close to the Ukrainian border reportedly caused by a stray Russian missile.

Reuters

Be a little bit careful with this: Don't confuse Article 4 with Article 5.

Article 4 creates an urgent conversation between NATO member diplomats on collective security, but has also happened several times in the past. Don't confuse it with Article 5, which is invoking the mutual defense treaty obligation in response to an armed attack.

But still Article 4 is a substantial step, and an indication of how serious #Poland is taking it.

@Pwnallthethings Article 4 is warranted, and it's appropriate, no matter how it looks… that's what it's for. literally… what it's for
@Pwnallthethings Similar to when Patriot batteries were deployed to Turkey in response to overshoots from Syria.
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_92555.htm
NATO support to Turkey : Background and timeline

The Turkish Government has requested that NATO augment Turkey’s air defence capabilities to defend the population and territory of Turkey. On 4 December 2012, NATO Foreign Ministers agreed to this request.

NATO
@Pwnallthethings at first I thought you were talking about paper sizes.
@basementbox @Pwnallthethings Me too. And I was starting to compose a rant in my head about the higher numbers being smaller sizes.
"Why the heck is A5 smaller than A4!"
@Pwnallthethings I'm hoping this might encourage Turkey into invoking Article 10, too.
@Pwnallthethings defcon 5 hit these evil fucks in the Kremlin
@Pwnallthethings @pe Pedantic reminder that DEFCON 5 is the lowest, least urgent level of readiness. Attacking the Kremlin would be DEFCON 1.
@Pwnallthethings in all seriousness though the road ahead just got really weird looking. A great example of how the fate of nations can rest on a bad roll of the dice. Of all places for a stray Russian munition to land (if that’s indeed what it was), landing on a couple random Polish farmers tooting around on a tractor in the middle of nowhere 15,000 or so inches inside Poland was extremely bad luck.
@Pwnallthethings It could also be a pointed warning regarding the probability (as opposed to the possibility) of escalation, and what the likely outcomes will be. The former satellites are the most at risk (they're in range of all kinds of munitions), but they also understand the outlook that Putin and his generals carry. Shoring up rather than fragmenting the alliance.
@Pwnallthethings well this is actually quite comforting. appreciate there’s a step in #NATO that’s ‘let’s talk about shit’ that’s between ‘ignore’ and ‘war’. regardless, it must be scary AF in #Poland right now
@Pwnallthethings initially I thought this was going to be a joke about paper...