"Three years ago at the NATO summit in Riga, I encouraged the Alliance to make energy security an Article Five commitment in which any member experiencing a deliberate energy disruption would receive assistance from other Alliance members. I argued that there was little distinction between an energy cutoff and an armed invasion....Merging energy support into NATO's core mission would also strengthen Alliance cohesion and reinforce public support for the alliance. The challenge of securing stable, affordable energy supplies is one that looms at the top of every ally's agenda, cutting across the fields of transportation, industrial, environmental, and national security policy." [24]
In the same month the Atlantic Council hosted General William Ward, commander of United States Africa Command, who detailed operations and exercises throughout the continent. The Council's website has announced that its Ansari Africa Center is "the newest addition to the Atlantic Council's regional programs." [25]
The U.S. Atlantic Council depends on its affiliates in Europe and Asia to apply pressure to their respective local citizenry in the face of plummeting support for NATO's war in Afghanistan and corresponding dissatisfaction with the Alliance in general. Local Atlantic Councils are also in the forefront of efforts to recruit nations in Scandinavia (Finland and Sweden), the Balkans and the former Soviet Union into the bloc.
Last month the Atlantic Council of Finland co-sponsored a forum on NATO's new Strategic Concept at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a presentation by Jamie Shea, Head of Policy Planning in the Private Office of the NATO Secretary General. Also in March, the Atlantic Council of Serbia held an event promoting its nation's accession to NATO membership.
Last May the Atlantic Council of Finland sponsored a talk by Norwegian Defense Minister Anne-Grete Strom-Erichsen in which she uttered stark comments in reference to Norway's and Finland's joint neighbor Russia.
A report of her comments stated that "Strom-Erichsen outlined the importance of shaping a common position in defence and security matters concerning the High North. The Minister particularly called for 'strengthening the relevance of NATO.' Considering Russia's recent push in its military and economic spheres in the Arctic Sea, Strom-Erichsen sees a worrying potential for a possible destabilisation in the region." [26]
An interview conducted by the Atlantic Council on NATO's new Strategic Concept last December with Julian Lindley-French, a member of its Strategic Advisors Group and an instructor at the Royal Military Academy of the Netherlands, was no more reassuring. It included the contention that "credible military power remains and will remain the foundation of credible power" and "the need to project credible military stabilizing power will likely grow."
In particular, Lindley-French stressed that "Russia must once and for all decide if it is part of the Alliance's security mission or a challenge to it. The invasion of Georgia was anti-freedom and NATO must resist such adventurism firmly." [27]
At the awards dinner on April 28 Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski spoke of his nation's NATO membership on a trip to Washington that included meetings with Secretary of State Clinton, Defense Secretary Gates and Zbigniew Brzezinski in which the focus was "on military cooperation, notably a new US defence project to replace the so-called anti-missile shield." [28]
Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also spoke and alluding to NATO's ever-widening global scope said, "You pick the place, the Balkans, Iraq, Africa, the Mediterranean, Haiti, and yes, Afghanistan and you'll find the alliance meeting these challenges in spectacular fashion." [29]
21st century, global NATO will not permit competitors. Neither in its own Euro-Atlantic territory nor anywhere else. The North Atlantic military bloc maintains its headquarters in Brussels, but its international strategy is elaborated in Washington, D.C.
1) NBC Washington, April 28, 2010
2) Global Energy War: Washington's New Kissinger's African Plans
Stop NATO, January 22, 2009
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/global-energy-war-washingtons-new-kissingers-african-plans
3) Real Clear Politics, February 8, 2009
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/02/jones_munich_conference.html
4) Atlantic Council, April 29, 2010
5) Atlantic Council of the United Kingdom
http://atlanticcounciluk.org/wp/?page_id=9
6) Atlantic Council, April 29, 2010
7) Agence France-Presse, April 29, 2010
8) Rustavi 2, April 29, 2010
9) Atlantic Council
http://www.acus.org/about
10) Atlantic Council of the United Kingdom http://atlanticcounciluk.org/wp/?page_id=9
11) http://www.acus.org
12) Atlantic Council
http://www.acus.org/people/sag
13) Atlantic Council
http://www.acus.org/tags/patriciu-eurasia-center
14) Atlantic Council
http://www.acus.org/people/sag
15) Ibid
16) 21st Century Strategy: Militarized Europe, Globalized NATO
Stop NATO, February 26, 2010
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/21st-century-strategy-militarized-europe-globalized-nato
17) Kokomo Perspective, September 29, 2009
18) Atlantic Council
http://www.acus.org/event/missile-defense-europe-next-steps/tauscher-transcript
19) Atlantic Council
http://www.acus.org/event/missile-defense-europe-next-steps/oreilly-transcript
20) Atlantic Council
http://www.acus.org/users/damon-wilson
21) Interfax-Ukraine, February 2, 2010
22) Trend News Agency, August 28, 2009
23) Atlantic Council
http://www.acus.org/users/alexandros-petersen
24) Kokomo Perspective, September 29, 2009
25) Atlantic Council
http://www.acus.org/program/ansari-africa-center
26) Norwegian Ministry of Defence, May 14, 2009
27) Julian Lindley-French, Stratcon 2010: A Military Route to Freedom?
Atlantic Council, December 16, 2009
28) Polish Radio, April 28, 2010
29) Atlantic Council, April 28, 2010
http://acus.org/event/2010-awards-dinner/transcript
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