Outdated NATO, an obsolete tool of the fading US empire

American designs to militarize the world through instruments which are no longer of any use, are bound to fail. In this regard, Kayhan International has published a Viewpoint Column, titled: “Outdated NATO, An Obsolete Tool of the Fading US Empire”.

Kayhan International pointed out: “With the end of the ‘Cold War’ between the Capitalist West and the Communist East following disintegration of the USSR and with it the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, the military alliance called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization North (NATO) lost all justification to exist.

“Yet NATO, which on April 4 marked its 70^th inauspicious birthday in Washington, has been made to survive, mainly to serve the devilish designs of the US Empire, which though in a state of rapid decline, continues to use it as a tool for its extra territorial mischief, and this time against the growing global influence of the industrial giant China, whom the thuggish regime of Donald Trump views as the principal adversary.

“This signals that the Washington-Beijing trade war is about to change into a military confrontation in the South China Sea, where the US has stepped up its naval provocations.

“Recently, US Vice-President Mike Pence raved and ranted against China by calling it the “empire and aggression” in the South China Sea, which is a clear distortion of facts, since the region is China’s neighbourhood, while the outsider and aggressor is the US.

“Mischief-monger Trump wants European members to pull their weight inside NATO, which implies dragging them into his suicidal confrontation at a time when Germany, France, and Italy have snubbed Washington by endorsing China’s ambitious Belt and Roads Initiative (BRI).

“The Europeans ought to be careful, since one wrong move and they would be embroiled in an undesirable war in faraway Pacific with destructive consequences at home, as they have already been exploited by the US outside NATO’s sphere in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya.”

As noted by Kayhan International: “Way back in 1989, US Secretary of State James Baker had assured the last president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, that if Moscow allowed the two Germanys (east and west) to reunite, NATO will not expand even a single inch towards the east.

“NATO, however, in violation of Washington’s promises, has grown in size from 16 to 29 official member states today, including the former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The combined military expenditure of NATO states constitutes around 70 percent of the total global spending, with the US spending around as much on war as every other country in the world combined.

“NATO was set up in 1949 by 12 North American and Western European states, and later in the 1980s added Greece, Turkey, West Germany and Spain to total 16.

“Its objective was to counter any Soviet invasion of Europe, but with the USSR having dissolved in 1991, which meant the end of all threats from Moscow, the justification ended for NATO’s existence. But instead of disbanding, it began to expand, both in its size and scope, and has gone from a guard dog to an attack dog.

“In 1999, NATO bombed Serbia to carve out a new country – Kosovo. In 2001 it attacked and occupied Afghanistan. In 2003 it was involved in the US-British led invasion and occupation of Iraq, which resulted in over a million people killed and millions of others displaced. In 2011 it bombed Libya that led to the overthrow and killing Colonel Mu’ammar Qadhafi. In all the above cases, NATO had faced weak and worn-out opponents.”

Kayhan International wrote: “In addition, though not formally involved, NATO members such as the US, Britain, France and the Netherlands actively supported various terrorist outfits in Syria in a vain bid to overthrow the legal government of President Bashar Assad, which has triumphed over international terrorism thanks to the assistance provided by the Islamic Republic of Iran, Russia, and Lebanon’s legendry anti-terrorist movement, the Hezbollah.

“This means any pretense of NATO to being a purely defensive organization are completely false.

“Now, NATO is in the process of being transformed from a conventional military alliance to a center of cyber warfare. This was evident at the 70^th anniversary meeting in Washington which focused on new areas of confrontation, especially information warfare, with US Secretary of State, the gangster Mike Pompeo, calling for “adaption” to a new digital era and move into cyber warfare.

“This is indeed a worrying omen for those concerned with freedom of speech and an independent media. Observers, however, believe that despite the war-mongering policies of the roguish regime of Donald Trump, NATO faces uncertain future.

“It has probably nearing the end of the road, given its criminal track record of destruction around the world. Unable to cope with a resurgent Russia, a determined China, and other emerging powers like the Islamic Republic of Iran, coupled with the realization by most European Union members of the stupidity of siding with the US, NATO may soon become a piece of history.”

AS/SS