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NATO Summit Intensifies Imperialist War Preparations
Summit Shows Dangers Posed by National Interests of the Imperialist Powers
Brussels, Belgium, July 7, 2018. Banner reads "Yes to Peace! No to NATO!"
While NATO countries fight with the U.S. and amongst themselves over who will control Europe and dominate Asia, the movement of the peoples against imperialism and war saw hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets to oppose NATO's 2018 summit in Brussels and U.S. President Donald Trump's subsequent visit to England and Scotland. The people's actions put their demands for peace and an end to aggression, war and occupation firmly on the agenda, including the dismantling of the aggressive U.S.-led NATO bloc.
TML Weekly salutes all those gathered in Brussels,
England and Scotland to uphold the demands of the worldwide movement for peace and against imperialist reaction and war. Such interventions make clear the necessity for the people to build strong country-wide and international anti-war fronts which uphold peaceful relations between countries based on mutual benefit and recognition of the sovereignty of all nations, not the imperialist dictum that "might makes right."
Mass demonstration against U.S. President Trump's visit to London, July 13, 2018. Trump was kept away from London because of the massive opposition to his visit, reflecting the broad opposition to his reactionary stands and U.S. warmongering, as well as to the government of British Prime Minister Theresa May for inviting him.
Demonstration in Glasgow, July 13, 2018.
Ten thousand demonstrate in Edinburgh July 14, 2018 against U.S. President Trump's
visit.
Trump went to Scotland to visit one of his golf resorts.
NATO leaders claim that the NATO Summit held in Brussels,
Belgium, July 11-12, met all its goals to increase war spending manifold and strengthen NATO's stranglehold over eastern Europe and encirclement of Russia, stabilize NATO's grip over
Afghanistan and Iraq, and "protect Europe" from incursion of migrants from North Africa and West Asia. The U.S. exploited the contradictions between itself and the European big powers, as well as among the European powers, to favour its interests to "Make America Great Again." This is to no avail since these contradictions will only deepen in the immediate future. In fact, the developments brought to the fore the famous dictum "Nations have no permanent friends and no permanent enemies, only permanent interests." So long as this is the case, the interests of the peoples of the world and their sovereignty will be trampled in the mud.
In this vein, on July 11, the first day of the NATO Summit,
Trump began by reiterating the demand that all NATO members reach the two per cent of GDP target for military spending, but
shortened the deadline to January 2019, six years ahead of schedule. By the end of the day, he declared that this figure should be four per cent. The next day, Trump threatened that if other countries do not meet the two per cent mark by the January deadline, he would "do his own thing." The result was an
emergency meeting called by NATO Secretary General Jens
Stoltenberg. After that meeting Trump stated, "The commitment was at two per cent. Ultimately that'll be going up much higher," and he said Stoltenberg would provide the figures. NATO members besides the U.S. are reportedly planning to increase military spending by a combined total of U.S.$11 billion this year.  In this way, the hooligan methods of the U.S. president once
again succeeded in setting the agenda for a major summit with U.S. demands for increased war spending the reference point for the discussion, with all others responding to it and other U.S. demands. Prime Minister Trudeau reiterated that Canada will not increase military spending at this time because in 2017 military spending was already increased by 70 per cent over the next decade. "The president has been consistent that he wants to see people spending more on defence in their countries and we are very pleased we are doing that," Trudeau told reporters. "We'll always step up, with cash yes but also with commitments and capacity. That's what NATO is looking for." He said that Canada has reaffirmed its commitment to work toward contributing two per cent of its GDP to military spending and to reverse any cuts. A similar response was given by other leaders.
Later, as Stoltenberg addressed a closing press conference,
he would only say, "All allies have heard President Trump's message loud and clear. We understand that this American
president is very serious about defence spending, and this is having a clear impact."
Even before the Summit began, the U.S. policy to control
Europe by driving the agenda was clear when Germany was targeted by Trump and accused of being "a captive to Russia" because of the Nord Stream offshore natural gas pipeline that brings Russian gas to Germany through the Baltic Sea, bypassing a land route through Ukraine. The U.S. State Department warned European firms involved in the deal for the pipeline that the project could divide Europe and they were at risk of sanctions. This was met with hostility by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and German businesses who rejected U.S. dictate of European energy
policies.
But there was no united stand against the U.S. as took place
at the G7 Summit in Quebec on the issue of tariffs. Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland sided with the U.S. against Germany saying, "there are significant Western sanctions against Russia for a reason" and that "Canada believes in those sanctions." Freeland added, "Those sanctions will and need to stay in place as
long as Russia's illegal actions remain in force. When it comes to Nord Stream, Canada has significant concerns about that project."
 This stand reveals once again that Canada's foreign policy is not only under U.S. command but also informed by loyalty to Nazi collaborators in Ukraine and the Baltic Republics. Making the encirclement of Russia a "national interest" based on fearmongering about Russia reminiscent of the Cold War is in no way shared by the Canadian people.
In this issue, TML Weekly is providing information
about the accelerated pace at which the imperialist powers are stepping up their war preparations and calls on its readers to reject the warmongering, narrow and reactionary basis for
Canada's foreign relations and description of its national interest and to demand that Canadian troops be withdrawn from all foreign lands and that Canada get out of NATO and that NATO be dismantled.
(TML Weekly, July 14, 2018 - No. 27)
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