NATO expansion accelerating its decline

China Daily  2022-06-29

In terms of international gatherings, June has been a busy month. Three BRICS-related meetings, including the BRICS Summit, were held in Beijing last week. The three-day G7 Summit concluded in Germany on Tuesday. And the NATO Summit will be held in Madrid on Wednesday and Thursday.

The G7 and NATO summits seek to maintain the US-dominated international order, by intensifying bloc-to-bloc confrontation, escalating existing tensions and crises, and targeting China and Russia.

Following a meeting of NATO defense ministers recently, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg declared: "NATO will increase its combat units along its eastern flank." And the NATO Summit, according to Stoltenberg, will be transformational, where critical decisions will be made in crucial areas, such as sustaining assistance for Ukraine and other "countries at risk" and enhancing NATO's deterrence and defense capabilities.

At a recent news conference, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: "We'll make sure that we protect every square inch of NATO territory. Since the war began, we've deployed more than 20,000 additional troops to NATO's eastern flank. Many allies are also increasing their military presence in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Last month, Finland and Sweden, two longstanding partners of NATO, made the decision to seek NATO membership."

He added that "the United States strongly supports Finland and Sweden's applications". Claiming that both countries are more than qualified to become full members of NATO, Blinken said that, by joining NATO, they will strengthen the transatlantic military alliance. "We look forward to quickly bringing them into the strongest defensive alliance in history."

Despite the high-pitched confidence of Stoltenberg and Blinken, NATO leaders could not break through the resistance of Turkey against the NATO membership of Sweden and Finland. Turkey wants both the Scandinavian countries to stop supporting the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Gülen organizations, which are terrorist outfits, and to lift the military embargo on Turkey. The Gülen organizations are the Turkish form of the "SuperNATO", the parallel state structure established by the US in NATO countries, and was liquidated to a large extent when the NATO-backed coup attempt on July 15, 2016 failed. It carries out its anti-Turkey activities in NATO countries, based in the US.

Yet Finland seems sure of getting NATO membership, as Finnish President Sauli Niinisto declared that his country would get it by "September at the latest".

Turkey's issue with NATO and the US is not limited to their support for the PKK and Gülen organizations. NATO also opposes Turkey's measures to protect its rights in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea. Over the past two years, the military siege of Turkey, led by the US and Israel, and supported by France and the United Kingdom to the advantage of Greece, has accelerated.

These countries are conducting extensive military exercises, ostensibly targeted at Turkey. General Patrick Sanders, chief of general staff of the UK, even issued an internal message on June 16-seen by BBC－to prepare for war in Europe, creating doubts over NATO's intentions.

NATO was established after World War II which devastated Europe by the US with the aim of controlling the continent. Prior to the establishment of NATO, military units were surreptitiously established in US ally states in Europe to "fight communism". When NATO was founded, these structures were secretly institutionalized and became known as "SuperNATO". Of the 30 NATO member states, only Turkey has purged the "SuperNATO" structure on its territory after the coup attempt in 2016.

The ambitions of the US are beyond its power. And as a result of provoking and prolonging the war in Ukraine, the US seems to be losing control over European Union member states. To consolidate its hold on Europe, therefore, the US, ignoring former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger's warning, decided to make Ukraine a scapegoat.

NATO is now trying to incite violence in and polarize the Asia-Pacific region as if all the damage it has already caused in the Atlantic isn't enough. NATO has invited the leaders of Japan and the Republic of Korea for the first time to attend its summit on Wednesday and Thursday with the aim of extending NATO's arm to the Asia-Pacific to contain China's rise. But by designating China as a strategic opponent, NATO may have accelerated its dissolution.

After all, the US' attempts to create a unipolar world have done enormous harm to humanity, as they have triggered wars, caused famine, increased poverty. And the burden of imperialist hegemony has rendered our planet uninhabitable.

Since their economies are already facing great difficulties, the transatlantic countries are further hurting themselves by succumbing to the frenzied ambitions of the US. While the Western countries try to trigger conflicts and continue to exploit natural resources, Asian countries are pursuing sustainable development and learning to live in harmony with nature. At the BRICS Summit, for example, the member states vowed to pursue development based on equality and justice.

Since the developing countries have chosen the sustainable path to development while NATO member states continue to incite confrontations and conflicts to continue their hold over the world, NATO seems to be getting closer to its dissolution with each step it takes to expand eastward.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

The author is deputy chairman of the International Relations Bureau of Vatan Party (Turkey).