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NATO Expansion, Missile Deployments And Russia's New Military Doctrine

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"Analysts say the Romanian decision came at a crucial moment when Washington and Moscow are about to sign a successor document to the expired Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-1). Therefore, the move may upset the thawing Russia-U.S. relations and put their bilateral ties to test." [6]

The new Russian Military Doctrine (in Russian at http://news.kremlin.ru/ref_notes/461) listed under the heading of "Main external threats of war" the following concerns, with the most pressing first:

- The goal of NATO to arrogate to itself the assumption of global functions in violation of international law, and to expand the military infrastructure of NATO nations to Russia's borders including through expansion of the bloc

- Attempts to destabilize the situation in individual states and regions and the undermining of strategic stability

- The deployment of military contingents of foreign states (and blocs) on territories neighboring Russia and its allies, as well as in adjacent waters

- The establishment and deployment of strategic missile defense systems that undermine global stability and violate the balance of forces in the nuclear field, as well as the militarization of outer space and the deployment of strategic non-nuclear systems precision weapons

- Territorial claims against Russia and its allies and interference in their internal affairs

- The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, missiles and missile technology, increasing the number of states possessing nuclear weapons

- The violation by a state of international agreements, and failure to ratify and implement previously signed international treaties on arms limitation and reduction

- The use of military force in the territories of states bordering Russia in violation of the UN Charter and other norms of international law

- The escalation of armed conflicts on territories neighboring Russia and allied nations

At the 46th annual Munich Security Conference held on February 6 and 7 NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said "I have to say that this new doctrine does not reflect the real world," though any impartial perusal of the above nine points it addresses would confirm that it portrays the world exactly as it is. Regrettably.

For example, after Romania's president revealed that U.S. missiles would be deployed in the country, a statement by the nation's Foreign Affairs Ministry said "Romania was and continues to be a consistent promoter in NATO of the project regarding the gradual-adaptive development of the anti-missile defence system in Europe....The decision to take part in the U.S. system is in full agreement with what the NATO summits in Bucharest in 2008 and in Strasbourg-Kehl in 2009 decided in this respect." [7]

On the first day of the Munich Security Conference Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in his address that "With the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Treaty Organization a real opportunity emerged to make the OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] a full-fledged organization providing equal security for all states of the Euro-Atlantic area. However, this opportunity was missed, because the choice was made in favor of the policy of NATO expansion, which meant not only preserving the lines that separated Europe during the Cold War into zones with different levels of security, but also moving those lines eastward. The role of the OSCE was, in fact, reduced to servicing this policy by means of supervision over humanitarian issues in the post-Soviet space."

He continued with a review of the failure of post-Cold War security measures in Europe:

"That the principle of indivisibility of security in the OSCE does not work doesn't take long to prove. Let's recall the bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999, when a group of OSCE countries, bound by this political declaration, committed aggression against another OSCE country, which was also covered by this principle.

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Rick Rozoff has been involved in anti-war and anti-interventionist work in various capacities for forty years. He lives in Chicago, Illinois. Is the manager of the Stop NATO international email list at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/
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