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

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"Everyone also remembers the tragedy of August 2008 in Transcaucasia, where a member country of the OSCE which is bound by various commitments in the sphere of nonuse of force used this force, including against peacekeepers of another member country of the OSCE, in violation not only of the Helsinki Final Act, but also of the concrete peacekeeping agreement devoted to the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict, which excludes use of force." [8]

He was followed the next day by NATO chief Rasmussen, who not only failed to respond to the accusation that peace and security in Europe were endangered by his military organization's relentless drive toward Russia's borders, but advocated NATO involvement beyond the continent to encompass the world.

In claiming "that in an age of globalised insecurity, our territorial defence must begin beyond our borders," Rasmussen urged "that NATO should become a forum for consultation on worldwide security issues."

His address also included the demand to "take NATO's transformation to a new level - by connecting the Alliance with the broader international system in entirely new ways."

Russia cannot propose a common security system for Europe, but NATO can dictate an international one.

Rasmussen boasted that the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan "will further grow in strength this year, with more than 39,000 extra troops," in the sanguinary killing field the West has created in the long-suffering country.

Not only did he not express a single reservation about a war that is now in its tenth calendar year and growing deadlier by the day, but he celebrated it as a model for the world: "Our Afghanistan experience...leads me to [another] point: the need to turn NATO into a forum for consultation on worldwide security issues....NATO is a framework which has already proven to be uniquely able to combine security consultation, military planning and actual operations for more than just NATO members themselves. Again, look at Afghanistan." [9]

Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the Russian Duma's International Affairs Committee, also spoke at the Munich Security Conference and said "I believe the problem of NATO today is that NATO develops in reverse order - it tries to act globally more and more but continues to think locally....As soon as NATO starts to reach beyond its borders this is no longer just an internal matter for NATO."

He also "accused the alliance of provoking the Georgia-Russia conflict by promising Tbilisi eventual membership...." [10]

Current Russian deputy prime minister and former defense minister Sergei Ivanov spoke at Munich too and in regard to the stalled START talks said "It is impossible to talk seriously about the reduction of nuclear capabilities when a nuclear power is working to deploy protective systems against vehicles to deliver nuclear warheads possessed by other countries," reminding conference participants that "Russia unilaterally cut its tactical nuclear arsenals by 75% in the early 1990s, but the United States did respond with a similar move and even failed to withdraw its weapons from Europe." [11]

Two days after the Munich Security Conference the secretary of the Security Council of Russia, Nikolai Patrushev, reiterated Lavrov's and Kosachev's earlier concerns, stating "We have grave doubts [that Russia will be more secure due to NATO expansion.] NATO represents a rather serious threat to us."

A major Russian news agency wrote that "Patrushev criticized NATO for its continued enlargement efforts, including its encouragement of Georgia's and Ukraine's bids to join the alliance.

"He also blamed NATO for arming and preparing Georgia for an attack on South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and said NATO countries continued to supply Tbilisi with weaponry despite Russia's protests." [12]

To substantiate those concerns, the 10th annual NATO Week began in Ukraine on February 9 and at the same time the government of Georgia "endorsed the Annual National Program of cooperation with NATO [ANP] for 2010," [13] an initiative launched by NATO shortly after Georgia's invasion of South Ossetia and war with Russia in August of 2008.

War in the Balkans, war in South Asia, war in the Caucasus. This is the model NATO calls for replicating on a world scale. And as the bloc moves further eastward it brings in his wake troops and military equipment, air and naval bases, and missile shield installations.

On February 9 Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia Nikolai Makarov warned "The development and establishment of the (U.S.) missile shield is directed against the Russian Federation." [14]

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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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