All Out to Oppose NATO Parliamentary Assembly
in Montreal

— November 22 to 25, 2024 —

From November 22 to 25, the 70th annual session of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Parliamentary Assembly (NATO-PA) will be held in Montreal. CPC(M-L) calls on Canadians and Quebeckers to join actions which oppose NATO and the holding of such a forum on Canadian soil. Boldly declare: Canada, Out of NATO! Dismantle NATO! Make Canada a Zone for Peace!

At the Assembly's spring session held in Sofia, Bulgaria from May 24-27, Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal MP for Davenport riding in Toronto and Chair of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association, said: "We are gathering at a critical juncture in history. Since Canada last hosted the Annual Session, in 2018, the international security environment has deteriorated. We are also seeing new forms of disruption, from both state and non-state actors. Our international rules-based order is threatened, and so is our democracy."

The July 4 press release of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association states: "Some 300 delegates from 57 NATO-PA Member, Associate, Regional Partner, and Observer states are expected in Montreal, where they will receive briefings from government representatives, NATO officials, academics, and other experts on issues of interest to the Alliance in five thematic committees.

"The session will allow parliamentarians from NATO and partner countries to deliberate on these threats to their core institutions and to consolidate the transatlantic relationship that lies at the heart of the Alliance. Canada will also highlight its contributions to NATO operations and reaffirm its unwavering commitment to such NATO values as democracy, the rule of law and individual liberty."

These great values ring hollower than ever at a time the U.S./NATO proxy war in Ukraine threatens to escalate the conflict against Russia while in the name of the democracy NATO espouses, heinous crimes are being committed against the Palestinian people, the Lebanese people and the peoples of many other countries by the U.S./Zionist forces and their Genocide Cartel.

What we see in the world today is the rejection of this NATO agenda and the demonstration of what it means for the peoples of the world to stand together against U.S./NATO/Zionist aggression, wars, occupations and genocide. The peoples of the world demand an end to imperialist war and a world where they can exercise their sovereignty and establish friendly relations with other countries, based on mutual respect and mutual benefit.

Join the actions to oppose this NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Montreal, an outrageous provocation against the peoples of Quebec and Canada who are fighting to humanize the social and natural environment and make Quebec and Canada Zones for Peace.

NATO Nuclear War Exercise Over Europe

From October 14 to 24, the U.S./NATO warmongering alliance conducted its annual nuclear war exercise code-named Steadfast Noon in Europe. The exercise involved fighter jets capable of carrying U.S. nuclear warheads which flew over Belgium and the Netherlands and in airspace over Denmark, the UK and the North Sea. NATO claims it does not involve any live weapons but recent statements and threats by the U.S. and Britain to further escalate their Ukraine proxy-war against Russia "without any limits" are echoed by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte who took office on October 1.

People worldwide are very concerned about what the U.S. and its NATO war alliance are up to. The common U.S. military phrasing that “all options are on the table” has long been part of their active use of nuclear weapons to blackmail and threaten others, especially Russia and China but countries within NATO as well, to submit to U.S. dictate.

Resistance in Korea and Vietnam were both threatened with nuclear weapons, threats which failed as the peoples emerged victorious. Use of the 2,000 pound bombs, considered just short of nuclear, for massive human destruction in Palestine and Lebanon, add to the readiness of the U.S. to potentially use nuclear weapons, especially those used in these war games branded as “tactical” weapons. Here too the resistance is showing they will not be intimidated.

For this war game, NATO reports more than 60 aircraft took part. Steadfast Noon was largely geared towards testing the capabilities and resilience of the alliance using nuclear weapons as carried by the Panavia Tornado, the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon, and, as of 2023, the F-35A. Other aircraft, such as the Boeing B-52H Stratofortress, and those needed for other roles, such as aerial refuelling tankers and airborne electronic warfare, were also included.

Each of these bases have one or two dozen active vaults (Weapons Storage Security System, WS3) inside as many protective aircraft shelters. Ramstein airbase in Germany used to be the largest storage site in Europe but only seven vaults remain active possibly for training and transfer. All weapons were withdrawn from Lakenheath before 2007 but the United Kingdom was recently added to the nuclear infrastructure storage modernization program, which means there are now eight active WS3 sites in Europe.

NATO reports that the exercise involved 2,000 military personnel from 13 NATO allies operating out of airbases across Belgium and the Netherlands. Mission scenarios were flown across Danish and UK airspace over land and over the North Sea. The BBC reported: in Britain "RAF Lakenheath is currently home to the 48th Fighter Wing, also known as the Liberty Wing, with the latest generation F-35A Lightning II aircraft stationed there. According to the U.S. Air Force these fighter jets have successfully been flight tested to carry the short-range B61-12 thermonuclear bomb, a tactical weapon designed for the battlefield. Documents detailing a contract awarded to build defensive shelters for RAF Lakenheath's 'upcoming nuclear mission' were published, and then withdrawn, by the U.S. In addition, millions of dollars have been earmarked to build a facility known as a 'surety dormitory' at the base, which is understood to be storage facilities for nuclear weapons, according to a U.S. Department of Defense budget."[1] All are indications the U.S./NATO war alliance is building up its placement of nuclear weapons in Europe in preparation for their potential use.

The term "nuclear deterrence" is often called "a principle in international relations." The retaliatory potential and destructive force of nuclear weapons in the hands of the big powers is said to prevent them from launching a nuclear attack. This leaves out the role of the peoples in standing against aggressive wars and nuclear weapons and that it is the peoples and their organized resistance that is decisive, as being demonstrated by the resistance in Palestine and Lebanon. War games such as these are designed to promote the notion that it is weapons that determine the outcome and the role of the people is to submit to the blackmail.

The U.S. has used its nuclear arsenal from day one as a constant threat and to blackmail other countries to submit to U.S. dictate as part of “deterrence.” The names used to describe the bombs and aircraft participating in Steadfast Noon and the capabilities they are said to possess are designed to instill fear in the peoples of the world and those the U.S./NATO alliance is targeting.

The Steadfast Noon exercise also practiced employment of non-strategic nuclear weapons, like this unarmed B61-4 nuclear gravity bomb dropped by an F-15E from the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath. Image: Sandia National Laboratories.

According to reports, aircraft rehearsed dropping B61 and B61-12 thermonuclear bombs on Europe. Though called “tactical,” each one is up to 20 times more powerful than the weapon that the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima in World War II, killing as many as 126,000 civilians. They are meant to wipe out human productive powers.

NATO claims that these nuclear war games in Europe "are routine," and admits that they previously took place in secret. The name Steadfast Noon was only declassified some six years ago. The exercises are not in accordance with the UN Treaty on Nuclear Disarmament, adopted by 122 countries, which legally came into force on January 22, 2021. The U.S. and Canada have refused to sign.[2]

Only three of NATO's 30 allies have nuclear weapons -– the U.S., Britain and France –- with Britain being the main nuclear ally of the U.S. France plays no direct role in NATO's threats and plans to use nuclear weapons and is not part of the alliance's secretive Nuclear Planning Group. This partly stems from the longstanding conflicts within NATO, including between the U.S., France and Germany. The fact that there is a planning group is yet another part of U.S. blackmail using nuclear weapons, to force the peoples of the world to submit to their rule. This is something the peoples of the world reject.

No to Nuclear Blackmail! Dismantle NATO!

Notes

1. Are U.S. nuclear weapons set to return to RAF Lakenheath? BBC News, February 18 2024

2. UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted by the Conference (by a vote of 122 States in favour, with one vote against and one abstention) at the United Nations on July 7, 2017, and opened for signature by the Secretary-General of the United Nations on September 20, 2017. Following the deposit with the Secretary-General of the 50th instrument of ratification or accession of the Treaty on October 24, 2020, it entered into force on January 22, 2021, in accordance with its article 15.

3. A report by Politico on President of Ukraine Zelensky, when he finally released his "victory plan" on October 16 to the Ukrainian Parliament, writes: "Ukraine proposes to deploy on its soil a comprehensive non-nuclear strategic deterrence package that will be sufficient to protect Ukraine from any military threat from Russia... The exact weapons were not revealed by Zelensky in his speech to parliament, but he said leaders in the U.S., Germany, France and the UK know Kyiv's asks." Previously in 2022 Zelensky had called on NATO to carry out "pre-emptive" nuclear strikes against Russia.

(Janes, Reuters, NATO, Federation of American Scientists, TML Archives)

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