North Atlantic Treaty Organization

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NATO committee.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military alliance of 28 nations, founded in 1949 to combat the spread of communism from Central Europe and the Soviet Union. Its current secretary is Jens Stoltenberg of Norway.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, NATO has departed immensely from its original purpose. Once a bulwark against Soviet communism, it is now a bulwark of globalism, neoconservatism, Islamism, and imperialism. President Trump is highly critical of how Europe does not pay its fair share for the defense costs of NATO.

NATO's official website states its political motive under Orwellian language: "NATO promotes democratic values and enables members to consult and cooperate on defence and security-related issues to solve problems, build trust and, in the long run, prevent conflict."

21st century

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Former United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld addressing NATO

After Kosovo, NATO's ability to be an offensive organization was called into question. Some called for the abolishment of the organization, stating that it had lost it original purpose. NATO began to look for its new goal in the 21 century. After the attacks on the World Trade Centers and Pentagon on September 11, 2001, NATO countries quickly responded by aiding the United States, as they had promised in Article Five of their founding treaty. AWACS airplanes were sent on surveillance, and NATO began its first and only article five mission to this day, Operation Active Endeavor, which was a Maritime mission to protect the Mediterranean from terrorist operations and drug and WMD trafficking.

After the end of the Cold War, European defense spending had weakened and its military lacked technology and modernization. In 2002, NATO met for its annual summit, which was held in Prague. The 19 country alliance made a list of improvements that its members needed to make in order to effectively fight the war on terror, these improvements called for, among other thing, a NATO Military Concept for Defense against Terrorism. NATO members also took steps to modernize there forces, all 19 countries agreed to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense. NATO also agreed on its new focus, terrorism. As Spain's former prime minister José María Aznar, said, “Jihadism has replaced Communism, as Communism replaced Nazism, as an existential threat to the liberal democracies.”

Further expansion and Russian relations

In 2004, NATO further expanded to Central European countries, these included Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania, resulting in an organization of 26 nations. This spark of expansion was seen as an offensive move by Russia and caused a rift in the NATO, Russia relations. The Russian lower house released to the press a statement, "At present we are debating the draft statement of the State Duma which we are planning to adopt in connection with NATO's expansion in Europe. Our opinion is equivocal that this act is erroneous. I think that this is a big historical mistake on the part of western states."

President Putin remarked in 2021, "As for NATO’s enlargement and the advancement of NATO infrastructure towards Russia’s borders, this is a matter of paramount significance as far as the security of Russians and Russia goes...I do not want to use harsh words, but they simply spat upon our interests."

Libyan uprising 2011

See also: Obama war crimes

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UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1973 of March 17, 2011 followed on the heels of Gaddafi's public threat on March 2, 2011 to throw western oil companies out of Libya, and his invitation on March 14 to Chinese, Russian, and Indian firms to produce Libyan oil in their place. China, Russia, India and Brazil all abstained on UNSC Resolution 1973.

Resolution 1973 authorized strict limitations, according to international law, on NATO as the organization with responsibility for the implementation of the resolution. Particularly, it provides only for a naval blockade enforcing the arms embargo, and enforcement of a no-fly zone. On March 29, 2011, Russian envoy Dmitry Rogozin commented after a meeting with NATO officials in Brussels, Belgium, that Russia expressed deep concern over the interpretation of the Security Council's resolution, as some countries have effectively turned it into an approval for ground operations.

“

Moscow has many questions about how the UN Security Council’s resolution is being carried out...First of all, there are reports that civilians have been killed in the air strikes. This is odd if you consider the message of the resolution, which says that the foreign forces’ actions should protect civilians. So it’s hard to comprehend how you can protect civilians by killing them....we demanded that the UN Security Council be fully informed about the actions of the alliance in Libya at all times... We have reports of air strikes against convoys far from the front line. This is a far cry from the UN Security Council resolution.

”

Despite France taking the lead role in the intervention, the Congressional Research Service reports, "Only the United States and NATO possess the command and control capabilities necessary for coalition operations enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya." France only recently rejoined the NATO alliance, in 2008, after a 40-year absence. The Congressional Research Service, which analyzes information and prepares reports for members of Congress, also states,

“

In spite of statements underscoring NATO unity on steps announced to date, the initial planning and operational phases were also marked by significant levels of discord within Europe and NATO on the aims and future direction of the mission. A key point of contention was reportedly the amount of flexibility that NATO forces would be granted to protect civilians and civilian areas, as called for in paragraph 4 of UNSCR 1973. Reports indicate that French officials insisted on maintaining the ability to strike ground forces that threatened civilian areas, while their Turkish counterparts vocally opposed any targeting of ground forces. Adding to the strain within NATO, NATO ally Germany abstained from UNSCR 1973 and, opposed to any potential combat operation, on March 23, withdrew its naval assets in the Mediterranean from NATO command. Throughout the first week of operations, other European allies contributing to the mission, including Italy and Norway, expressed increasing frustration with the lack of agreement within NATO, with Norway refusing to deploy its fighter jets unless under they were under NATO command and control.

”

Of Nato's 28 members, 14 are said to be "actively participating," but only 6 have provided military support. Of the 22-country Arab League, whose appeal prompted the United Nations to vote on intervention, only Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are involved. Of the 192 members of the UN General Assembly, who all have a legal "responsibility to protect" civilians attacked by their own governments, only Sweden has responded.

NATO planes and ships have been striking cities and military installations in Libya since mid-March, 2011. Allied military officials have spoken in recent weeks of the need for escalation to help protect Libyan civilians and have called for Gaddafi to step down. Libyan officials have said that NATO is picking sides in a civil war and complained that strikes on Gaddafi's Tripoli compound are attempts to assassinate the leader of a sovereign country. NATO launched its largest airstrike against Moammar Gaddafi's regime on May 24, 2011, with at least 15 massive explosions rocking the Libyan capital. [1]

Afghanistan

See also: Rape of Afghanistan

NATO took command and co-ordination of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in August 2003. When NATO and some non-member states joined (such as Australia and Japan), the initial mission was limited to Kabul, but soon expanded. In 2006, when NATO took over full command over the Afghanistan operation, the Taliban began a major campaign. Commanders complained that their forces were being restricted by national restrictions, and that they needed more troops. In November 2006, at another NATO summit in Riga, NATO countries removed 15% of restrictions placed on troops. NATO called on member governments to provide more troops to their mission in Afghanistan, but several countries had their resources stretched thin in Kosovo, as well as their mission in Iraq of training the new Iraqi government's security force.

“It looks like "The Afghanistan operation was always going to end some time, it was never going to go on forever, but the manner in which it’s been done has been humiliating and damaging to Nato.”

NATO Members

NATO Member	NATO Summit	Expansion Year
Belgium	Founder	Original Member, 1949
Canada	Founder	Original Member, 1949
Denmark	Founder	Original Member, 1949
France	Founder	Original Member, 1949
Iceland	Founder	Original Member, 1949
Italy	Founder	Original Member, 1949
Luxembourg	Founder	Original Member, 1949
Netherlands	Founder	Original Member, 1949
Norway	Founder	Original Member, 1949
Portugal	Founder	Original Member, 1949
United Kingdom	Founder	Original Member, 1949
United States	Founder	Original Member, 1949
Greece		First Round, 1952
Turkey		First Round, 1952
Germany		Second Round, 1955
Spain		Third Round, 1982
Czech Republic	Washington, D.C.	Fourth Round, 1999
Hungary	Washington, D.C.	Fourth Round, 1999
Poland	Washington, D.C.	Fourth Round, 1999
Bulgaria	Washington, D.C.	Fifth Round, 2004
Estonia	Istanbul, Turkey	Fifth Round, 2004
Latvia	Istanbul, Turkey	Fifth Round, 2004
Lithuania	Istanbul, Turkey	Fifth Round, 2004
Romania	Istanbul, Turkey	Fifth Round, 2004
Slovakia	Istanbul, Turkey	Fifth Round, 2004
Slovenia	Istanbul, Turkey	Fifth Round, 2004
Albania	Bucharest, Romania	Sixth Round, 2008
Croatia	Bucharest, Romania	Sixth Round, 2008
Montenegro		Seventh Round, 2017

See also

• Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

External links

• NATO's Official Website
• 1949 NATO Treaty, full text
• Clinton Wag the Dog -- No Kosovo Genocide, German Foreign Office Report, January 6, 1999.
• Legitimate Targets? How U.S. Media Supported War Crimes in Yugoslavia.
• The U.S.-NATO Military Intervention in Kosovo. Triggering ethnic conflict as a pretext for intervention.
• NATO and Rebel Atrocities in Libya: by Stephen Lendman. July 14, 2011. Stephen Lendman