75 Years of NATO = 75 Years of Denial

Just in time for its 75th anniversary, NATO has dropped its mask. And the NATO summit beginning Tuesday in Washington is one particularly illuminating moment in this revelation. 

The history of the Enlightenment teaches us never to accept a person’s or an organization’s self-image at face value. So do the early sources of Enlightenment ideas in ancient Greece. The Greeks already possessed that insight. Inscribed above the Temple of Apollo was the maxim: Know thyself.

If we take that injunction not lightly as a gentle reminder of the limits of human thought but also as meaning what the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclis insisted — that “It belongs to all men to know themselves and think well” — then we must regard self-knowledge as an essential human quality, which perhaps also ought to apply to our organizations.

With NATO, however, it seems to be exactly the reverse.

For NATO, denial of its true nature is part of the essence of the organization. Or to put it another way, an almost meditative immersion in its own self-image is part of the essence of the military alliance.

It is all the more astonishing, then, that Western media are so often content to reflect a thousand iterations of this self-image back to the public, without question and without pausing to consider whether the image adequately represents reality.

In fact, 75 years of NATO is equivalent to 75 years of denial, albeit with a dramatic expansion of scale and scope in recent years.

Keep reading

‘Elements in West’ want World War III – NATO member state

Certain Western powers appear hell-bent on turning the Ukraine conflict into an all-out world war, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said. He added that he hoped peace would prevail in spite of this.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently made a number of proposals aimed at ending hostilities in Ukraine, insisting that Moscow has always been open to dialogue. However, these proposals have been rejected by Ukraine and its Western backers as unrealistic and insincere.

Speaking to reporters on board the presidential jet as he returned from a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Astana, Kazakhstan on Friday, Erdogan lamented that “unfortunately, there are countries and elements in the West that espouse an approach which paves the way for World War III.” 

He blamed arms manufacturers for pushing their own agendas as Western powers continue to funnel military aid to Ukraine. “It is obvious that arms dealers need money. And the market for arms dealers is the West,” Erdogan said.

The Turkish head of state said that, in contrast, Russia has been promoting dialogue and a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine conflict. He said Ankara was keeping its finger on the pulse in relation to the conflict, and he hopes that Kiev and Moscow will seal a peace agreement soon. 

Keep reading

Ukraine Will Be Told It’s Too Corrupt To Join NATO at Next Week’s Summit

Ukraine will be told that it is too corrupt to join NATO at the alliance’s summit in Washington next week, The Telegraph reported on Tuesday.

The report cited a US State Department official who said Ukraine needed to take “additional steps” before talks on its NATO membership could progress. “We have to step back and applaud everything that Ukraine has done in the name of reforms over the last two-plus years,” the official said.

“As they continue to make those reforms, we want to commend them, we want to talk about additional steps that need to be taken, particularly in the area of anti-corruption. It is a priority for many of us around the table,” the official added.

President Biden has frequently cited corruption as a reason for not admitting Ukraine into NATO, but that has not stopped him from spending over $100 billion on military and economic aid for the Ukrainian government with virtually no oversight.

The position is expected to be outlined in a NATO communique issued during the summit. During last year’s NATO summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was looking for a clear roadmap to membership, but the alliance’s communique only offered a vague statement that it would invite Ukraine to join “when Allies agree and conditions are met.”

Keep reading

Russia Says It Will Respond to Finland Giving US Access to Bases

On Wednesday, Russia said it would respond to Finland’s move to allow the US access to military bases inside the Nordic nation, which joined NATO last year and shares an over 800-mile border with Russia.

Under a new Defense Cooperation Agreement that was ratified by Finland’s parliament on Monday, the US can access 15 bases in Finland, including a border guard base only 20 miles from the Russian border.

“I can only confirm that Russia will not leave unanswered the NATO military buildup on our border, which threatens the security of the Russian Federation,” said Andrei Nastasin, a deputy spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“We will also take the necessary measures, including of a military-technical nature, to counter aggressive decisions by Finland, as well as its NATO allies,” Nastasin added.

Keep reading

Ukraine Pushing NATO To Create No-Fly Zone Over Western Ukraine

Ukrainian officials are pushing NATO countries to impose a no-fly zone over western Ukraine using air defense systems in eastern Europe, a step that would mean direct NATO involvement in the war with Russia.

“I don’t understand why NATO doesn’t deploy Patriot systems along the Polish border,” Oleksiy Goncharenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker, told AFP. “After all, Russian missiles have already entered Polish and Romanian airspace. This would protect the borders of Poland and Romania, and this would create a safe zone in the west and south of Ukraine.”

The idea is for NATO to protect Ukrainian industry and energy infrastructure in the western portion of the country. But a no-fly zone would require NATO to shoot down Russian missiles and potentially Russian aircraft, and the direct NATO involvement would make nuclear war much more likely.

Despite the huge risk of escalation, Ukraine’s Western backers appear to be entertaining the idea of a no-fly zone. A European diplomatic source told AFP that talks about the issue were “in progress,” adding that it was “not a simple decision.”

Keep reading

US-Supported Mark Rutte To Become Next NATO Secretary General

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will be named the next secretary general of the North Atlantic alliance. The White House backed his ascension to become NATO’s top civilian official. Rutte will replace outgoing Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

In his bid for the job, Rutte has secured support from all 32 member states and is expected to officially take over at the NATO summit in Washington next month. He has served as the Dutch prime minister for 14 years, but reportedly plans to step down.

Hungary was the last holdout for Rutte. Prime Minister Victor Orban said Budapest threw its support behind him after he pledged that Hungary would not have to support the alliance’s proxy war in Ukraine.

“I am aware of the outcome of talks between Jens Stoltenberg and you regarding NATO’s support for Ukraine,” he posted on X. “It is my understanding that you stressed that no Hungarian personnel would take part in these activities and no Hungarian funds will be used to support them.”

During a 2018 press conference, Rutte interrupted when then-President Donald Trump was speaking to disagree with him. Gordon Sondland, who served as Trump’s envoy to the European Union, told POLITICO that Rutte “has had a history with him of pushing back when he thinks Trump is wrong, and he does it right to his face.”

Sondland noted that Trump did not dislike Rutte despite their clashing views.

The swell in support for Rutte comes in part because Western leaders believe he will be able to push Trump towards continuing the proxy war in Ukraine. However, Brussels has failed to implement any concrete “Trump-proofing” policies.

Fabrice Pothier, who served as former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s policy chief, said she did not believe Rutte’s appointment would be enough to stop Trump from ending the war in Ukraine.

“I’m just skeptical that Trump-proofing NATO and Trump-proofing the transatlantic relationship will do the trick,” Pothier said. “Trump, and some people around him, won’t be tricked a second time.”

On the campaign trail, Trump has pledged to end the fighting in Ukraine, without presenting a concrete plan for doing so. When he ran for president in 2016, he discussed withdrawing from NATO and improving US-Russian ties, calling the bloc “obsolete.” However, during his term, the relationship between Washington and Moscow significantly deteriorated, and Trump began shipping weapons to Ukraine.

Keep reading

“NATO’s LIES ON MEDITERRANEAN WARS FOR GAS”. Exclusive Interview to Former Interpol EU Officer

Never before have the words that master Geppetto, a psychoanalyst ante litteram, addressed to his puppet been so timely. Lies that have effects on the mind, on the body, on relationships with others, on relationships between states.

How many conflicts – Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq – began thanks to artfully packaged lies, conflicts that continue even today with the sole purpose of plundering the energy resources of countries that have them in abundance and which Europe, but not only, desperately needs, with the complicity of the energy lobbies.

A Review of Lies Illustrated by Former Interpol Official in Jordan

The proof of these lies is found in the book “Mediterraneo. Same blood, same mud”, written by Antonio Evangelista and illustrated to Gospa News in an exclusive interview

“ is a bit of a review of the lies that have been told about the conflicts in the Balkans, in Libya, in Syria, lies that have now been verified with official sources, interviews with American officials, UN and embassy documents or secret documents that have now been declassified, like the Canadian ones, where we read a different story compared to what was the narrative of the time.”

This is according to author Antonio Evangelista , a former police director, who also served in the United Nations international police, and in Interpol as attaché at the Italian embassy in Amman, Jordan, dealing with war crimes, terrorism and Balkan mafia.

Keep reading

Campaigners Decry ‘Dangerous Escalation’ as NATO Chief Floats Nuclear Deployment

Nuclear disarmament campaigners on Monday implored NATO and Russia to step back from the brink after the head of the Western military alliance said its members are considering deploying additional atomic weapons to counter Moscow and Beijing.

“This is the dangerous escalation inherent to the deterrence doctrine,” the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) wrote on social media, referring to the notion that the threat of catastrophic nuclear retaliation prevents nations from using atomic weaponry.

The U.S., which spent more on its atomic weapons arsenal than every other nuclear-armed nation combined last year, currently has nukes deployed in five NATO countries—Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Russia, meanwhile, recently deployed nuclear weapons to Belarus, which said earlier this month that it would join Moscow’s nuclear exercises.

ICAN said Monday that “it’s time for both to reverse course.”

“NATO countries hosting U.S. nuclear weapons should admit to their citizens they have weapons of mass destruction on their soil with no public say,” ICAN added. “But neither Belarus nor NATO allies should flaunt being prepared to indiscriminately kill millions of people.”

Keep reading

No Country Immune From NATO Attack, Putin Warns

With the world rapidly changing, things will no longer be as they were before. Today, the global political landscape, the economy, and technological competition are all evolving at breakneck speed. President Vladimir Putin stated at a meeting with top officials of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“The world is changing rapidly. Nothing will be like it was before, not global politics, not the economy, nor technological competition,” the president clarified.

“This endeavor, in today’s challenging and rapidly changing realities, demands even greater concentration of effort and initiative towards resilience: not only the ability to respond to current challenges but also to shape our own, long-term agenda. Alongside our partners, we should propose and discuss, within an open and constructive dialogue, solutions to those fundamental questions that concern not only us but the entire global community,” he stressed.

Multipolar World Order

Russian President Vladimir Putin has emphasized that the cornerstone of this emerging reality is the establishment of a multipolar world order.

“Today, the outlines of a multipolar and multilateral world order are being formed based on the new political and economic reality. This process highlights the inherent human diversity of culture and civilization, despite ongoing efforts at artificial homogenization,” he said.

More and more countries are striving to strengthen their sovereignty, self-sufficiency, and national and cultural identity. “Countries of the Global South and East are coming to the forefront, and the role of Africa and Latin America is growing. Since Soviet times, we’ve always emphasized the importance of these world regions, but today the dynamics are entirely different,” the president stated.

Growing Interest in BRICS

Russia is witnessing a mounting interest in the BRICS organization, Putin noted.

“This vision of the future resonates with the aspirations of the vast majority of countries around the world. We see this reflected in the growing interest in BRICS, a universal association based on a special culture of trustworthy dialogue, sovereign equality of participants, and mutual respect. During Russia’s chairmanship this year, we will facilitate the smooth inclusion of new members into BRICS’ working structures,” Putin said.

He believes that the potential of BRICS will allow it to become one of the fundamental regulatory institutions in the multipolar world order.

Putin stated that Western powers, led by the United States, believed they had emerged victorious from the Cold War and could dictate the global order, while dismissing Russia’s legitimate concerns with evasive answers.

“The Western powers, led by the US, believe that they had won the Cold War and were entitled to unilaterally determine how to organize the world. This sentiment manifested in the relentless expansion of the North Atlantic bloc, both geographically and gradually. To our legitimate questions, they responded with excuses, claiming that no one intended to attack Russia and that NATO’s expansion was not directed against Russia,” the head of state maintained.

NATO Cranking Up Pressure on Other Countries

The US-led Transatlantic bloc is seeking to ramp up pressure on nation-states it seeks to constrain, such as Russia.

Keep reading

NATO Seeks to Set Up 3 Bases in Member States to Coordinate Arms Supplies to Ukraine – Orban

NATO seeks to create military bases in Poland, Romania and Slovakia as part of its mission in Ukraine to coordinate arms supplies to Kiev, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday.

Orban stressed that should this bases be established in countries bordering Ukraine like Poland, Romania and Slovakia, they “will become military targets”. Prime minister underscored that Hungary is worried about its security and will not take part in these activities anyhow.

Keep reading