NATO Exercise Steadfast Defender 24

No to U.S./NATO War Preparations!
Dismantle NATO!

NATO announced that Exercise Steadfast Defender 24, which it calls "NATO's largest exercise in decades," began on January 24 and will end sometime in June. This live war game will involve 90,000 troops from 31 NATO countries including Canada, as well as Sweden which is about to join NATO. This is the main war game NATO has planned for this year. It consists of national and multinational large-scale live exercises conducted across various locations -- primarily in Finland, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and the UK.

More than 50 naval vessels, including aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates and corvettes will be involved. In addition, fighter planes of various types, helicopters and a variety of drones will be deployed. More than 1,100 combat vehicles, including more than 150 tanks, 500 infantry fighting vehicles and 400 armoured personnel carriers will also be used.

Of note is that according to the U.S. Department of Defense, the "exercise is based on a fictitious [NATO Charter] Article 5 scenario 'triggered by a fictitious attack against the alliance launched by a near-peer adversary.'" Given the scale and locations where Steadfast Defender 24 will be carried out, it is clear that the aim is to threaten and intimidate Russia. In fact the U.S. Department of Defense notes: "Russia has launched the largest war in Europe since World War II, attacking neighbouring Ukraine. Since Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, NATO has strengthened defence and deterrence on the continent."

This bravado on the part of U.S./NATO shows the utter crisis the "alliance" is mired in. It has been seen that the U.S. and NATO are having trouble even defending Ukraine in their proxy war against Russia despite tens of billions of dollars spent on armaments and training to defend "democracy" and the so-called "rules-based international order" in Ukraine. As far as "the rules based international order" is concerned, the whole world can see what that means in real terms in the U.S.-Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people. Despite suffering defeat in Afghanistan and other places, the U.S./NATO, and Canada as part of it, persist in operating on the basis of "Might Makes Right" to impose their hegemony. This is counter to what the peoples of the world, including in the NATO countries, are striving for. All this disinformation by the NATO "alliance" is aimed at diverting the movement of the world's peoples for peace.

Exercise Steadfast Defender 24 must be resolutely opposed by the peace-loving peoples of the U.S., Canada, Europe and the rest of the world. This massive exercise will do nothing to "protect" the peoples of the North Atlantic and Europe, and will only add to the tension and insecurity the peoples of the region are already feeling. What humanity needs more than anything else is peace and stability given that many regions of our world are engulfed in war and conflict.

Canadians must organize for an anti-war government that will take Canada out of NATO, all other aggressive military alliances and make Canada a zone for peace.

No to U.S./NATO Exercise Steadfast Defender 24!
Get Canada Out of NATO! Dismantle NATO!
Make Canada a Zone for Peace!


This article was published in
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Volume 54 Number 13 - February 23, 2024

Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS541311.HTM


    

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