By Moon Of Alabama
October 19, 2021 -- "Information
Clearing House -
"Moon
Of Alabama"-
Two years ago France President Macron
diagnosed NATO's 'brain death':
"What we are currently experiencing is the brain
death of Nato," Mr Macron told the London-based
newspaper.
He warned European members that they could no
longer rely on the US to defend the alliance,
established at the start of the Cold War to
bolster Western European and North American
security.
Since then NATO's condition has further
deteriorated.
The second biggest army under NATO command,
Turkey's, is now hostile to the U.S. which continues
to support PKK terrorists who are fighting against
the Turkish state. Since the 2016 coup attempt
against President Erdogan Turkey had leaned towards
Russia. It has bought Russian air defense systems
which enables it to defend itself against NATO
attacks. The relations with the U.S. and with NATO
have since further declined.
Macron's diagnose came when the U.S. pulled some
forces out of Syria. The NATO allies had not been
informed about the move. This year's U.S. retreat
from Afghanistan was likewise not communicated
before its announcement even as NATO had an official
mission in Afghanistan. Getting ignored by the U.S.
does not create the trust needed for an enduring
military partnership.
No Advertising - No
Government Grants - This Is Independent Media
Get Our Free
Newsletter
Then came the new AUKUS alliance which put the
U.S. focus on China while screwing France out of a
huge submarine contract with Australia.
When U.S. President Biden called Macron to
apologize for the insult Macron
gained a statement of U.S. support for an
independent European army:
The United States also recognizes the importance
of a stronger and more capable European defense,
that contributes positively to transatlantic and
global security and is complementary to NATO.
The folks at NATO's headquarter in Brussels will
have read that with deep fears. A separate European
Union army, which France has long promoted, will
inevitably diminish NATO's role.
NATO's original mission, to keep the U.S. in
Europe, to keep Russia out of Europe and to hold
Germany down, has withered away. The U.S. is
concentrating on China and will do so for the
foreseeable future. Russia is no longer interested
in Europe. Germany is militarily irrelevant, has an
aging population and no interest in any expansion.
With Russia having no interest in Europe NATO
also lost its favored enemy. While the Baltic
states, Poland and the United Kingdom are still
hyping Russia as an enemy - mostly for domestic
reasons - no one in Italy, France or Germany
believes that Russia has plans to attack anyone.
The NATO bureaucrats know all this. To stay in
business they continue to lash out at Russia. Most
recently by sending some Russian diplomats at NATO's
headquarter back home without any sane reason.
Russia wasn't impressed by the move. It has resolved
to from now on
ignore NATO:
Russia plans to cease its diplomatic engagement
with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the
Russian foreign minister said on Monday, in the
latest sign of unraveling relations between
Moscow and the West.
...
By early next month, Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov said, Russia will halt the activities of
its representative office at NATO headquarters
in Brussels and withdraw diplomatic credentials
from emissaries of the alliance working in
Moscow.
...
Earlier this month, NATO ordered eight Russian
diplomats to leave Belgium by Nov. 1, saying
they were undeclared intelligence officers. The
alliance also reduced the size of the Russian
representative office.
...
Relations with the alliance had in any case long
ago gone off the rails, he said. NATO had
already twice reduced the size of the Russian
delegation, in 2015 and 2018, he said. “On the
military level there are absolutely no contacts
taking place,” he said.
He said NATO had set up a “prohibitive
regime” for Russian diplomats in Brussels by
banning them from its headquarters building.
Without visiting the building, he said, they
could not maintain ties with alliance officials.
Mr. Lavrov suggested the expulsions of
Russian diplomats had come as an unwelcome
surprise, as he had met in New York just days
earlier with the alliance’s secretary general,
Jens Stoltenberg, and discussed de-escalating
tensions.
“He in every way underscored the honest, as
he said, interest in the North Atlantic alliance
in normalizing relations with the Russian
Federation,” Mr. Lavrov said.
Since his surprise move against Russian diplomats
NATO's secretary general has visited the U.S. where
he received new marching orders. He announced these
in
an interview (paywalled) with the Financial
Times. Alex Lantier
takes it apart:
Speaking yesterday to the Financial Times of
London, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg
demanded that the military alliance intensify
its threats against China. His remarks
highlighted both the extremely aggressive policy
pursued by the NATO alliance and explosive
divisions emerging among the NATO imperialist
powers.
...
Stoltenberg was returning from a meeting with
Biden in Washington, where he also spoke at
Georgetown University, provocatively demanding
that NATO “step up and do more” to allow
countries on Russia’s borders to join the NATO
alliance. His Financial Times interview
was a barely disguised message from the White
House calling for the EU powers to fall in line
with the mounting US war drive targeting China.
NATO, Stoltenberg insisted, should target not
only Russia but China as well. He criticized
“this whole idea of in a way distinguishing so
much between China, Russia, either Asia-Pacific
or Europe,” adding, “it’s one big security
environment, and we have to address it all
together. … It’s about strengthening our
alliance to face any potential threat.”
He denounced China, claiming it was a major
security threat in Europe.
Good luck with selling that to European
taxpayers. China is by no means a security threat to
Europe. Certainly none which a military alliance
bound to the North Atlantic's geography has to or
can confront. China has good relations with most
European countries, is trading with all of them and
is Germany's largest customer.
NATO was created when it was in the common
interests of its members to counter the Soviet
Union.
With regards to China U.S. and European interests
diverge strongly. What the U.S. sees as a serious
competitor to its outsized role in the world is seen
in Europe as a non aggressive partner that creates
new economic opportunities.
During next years NATO summit in Madrid the U.S.
will want to put China firmly on NATO's agenda. But
I highly doubt that the European NATO countries will
commit to anything but mealy mouthed statements.
They will certainly not cough up money to create new
NATO capabilities that could actually be used
against China.
NATO is dead. It has outlived its purpose and
utility.
To keep peace in Europe the creation of a new
military cooperation framework in parallel to the
European Union makes much more sense. It should not
be the aggressive imperial force France envisions to
defend its interest in Africa. To keep peace within
Europe a defensive cooperation, operationally
limited to its members' European geography, makes
the most sense. The incoming new German government
could take the initiative to create it.
Registration is necessary to post comments.
We ask only that you do not use obscene or offensive
language. Please be respectful of others.