Summit Agenda Confirms Imperialists' Desperation and Stepped-Up War Preparations
NATO is desperate to put in place multi-year commitments of all its members to finance and arm Ukraine for the U.S./NATO proxy war against Russia it is waging "to the last Ukrainian." The Washington Summit plans to override the democratic will of any people for a change of direction to end involvement in the U.S./NATO proxy war in Ukraine by having all NATO members commit to legally binding deals to support war in Ukraine "for as long as it takes." All of this is carried out without the consent of any people of member countries which has caused a big backlash throughout Europe and also the U.S.
Such is the "democracy" NATO stands for.
In a NATO press release on July 5, Secretary General Jens
Stoltenberg elaborated the focus of the Washington Summit on the
U.S./NATO proxy war in Ukraine, to try to prop up that country
financially and militarily, despite the failure of prior actions in
that regard to prevent its eventual bankruptcy and defeat on the
battlefield. "I expect heads of state and government will agree a
substantial package for Ukraine," he stated. "NATO will take over the
coordination and provision of most international security assistance,"
with a command led by a three-star general and several hundred
personnel working at NATO headquarters in Germany and at logistical
nodes in the eastern part of the Alliance, he said.
A logistics node is a point that connects a supply chain
logistics network underscoring how the mighty arm of the U.S.
imperialists takes over Europe. It is also noteworthy that a
three-star general will be in command, when the U.S. has 43 four-star
generals. Nonetheless, the direction seems clear enough, using NATO,
the U.S. will continue to cause trouble and not permit a lasting peace
in Europe while NATO countries increasingly foot the bill. The
announcement is an unmistakable hedge against an erratic and
unpredictable presidency under Donald Trump or an incompetent one such
as that under Biden. The demand that all NATO members commit to legally
binding deals to support the war in Ukraine is a clear indication of
the fact that NATO is anything but united.
NATO
countries will be expected to make a financial pledge for Ukraine, as
well to provide more immediate military support, bilateral security
agreements and "deepened military interoperability." Interoperability
refers to providing Ukraine's military with NATO standard arms and
training.
Even with the inevitable military defeat of Ukraine,
Stoltenberg and NATO continue to dangle the carrot of membership for
Ukraine, saying that all of these elements "constitute a bridge to NATO
membership and a very strong package for Ukraine at the summit" and
that "Ukraine is moving closer to NATO."
A U.S. State Department official told reporters just a few
days ahead of the Washington Summit,
"We are pulling together a series of deliverables that will
serve" in
"essence as a bridge to membership." This would include
the institutionalization of Western support and training for
Ukraine, an annual $40 billion euro (U.S.$43.3 billion)
political financial pledge, a commitment to the country's
membership status, and the appointment of a NATO envoy to
Ukraine. A "bridge" to NATO, is said to include concrete
military aid and training to modernize the armed forces, and a
pledge to declare Ukraine's path into the Western military
alliance "irreversible." Multiple top NATO officials said
recently this could be seen as progress toward membership, Euractiv
reports. However, several NATO diplomats expressed doubts about whether
using this particular language to mark Ukraine's progress is good for
the membership process or the credibility of that process, as NATO is
essentially promising Ukraine that its membership is inevitable. The
fact that other European countries which joined NATO since the collapse
of the former Soviet Union had to jump through hoops to qualify for
membership but the same standards do not apply to Ukraine does not
create goodwill within NATO either.
Since the 2023 NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, NATO is said to be struggling to find a balance between recognizing Ukraine's toeing the line with respect to reforms and modernization of its armed forces, while moderating its expectations that it will become a NATO member sooner than later. Ultimately, one U.S.-driven faction within NATO does not want Ukraine to be able to invoke Article 5 of the NATO Charter and open direct military conflict with Russia. The fact remains, however, that the U.S. weapons and personnel and those of other countries are already directly involved in attacks on Russia from Ukraine and other bases in neighbouring countries. This seriously increases the scope of the conflict which, all told, makes it unlikely the matter will be in any way settled when leaders arrive in Washington on July 9.
The
second major focus of the summit is NATO's war
preparations, especially in Europe. At the summit, NATO countries will
be expected to endorse a pledge to strengthen transatlantic war
production, which it calls "defence industrial cooperation." At a time
when the financial crises and
neo-liberal anti-social offensive are wreaking profound insecurity on
working people throughout NATO member countries, Stoltenberg proudly
exclaimed that 23 NATO members are now spending at least two per cent
of their GDP on defence. Stoltenberg spoke of "enhanced ballistic
missile defences" in Europe via a new Aegis Ashore base to be
established in Poland. This is another threat against the aspirations
of the Polish people not to be used as pawns in a war against Russia.
In 2023, NATO members spent in excess of $1.2 trillion waging
and preparing for war. Europe spent U.S.$380 billion which amounts to
two per cent of their combined GDP, while the U.S. spent more than $916
billion. The lion's share goes to five U.S.-based weapons producers. By
contrast, the UN
reports that in 2021 as many as 828 million people experienced hunger,
a figure that has increased by another 150 million since the global
pandemic. It would take, according to Oxfam, about $23 billion a year
to meet the needs of people facing starvation and acute malnutrition
and around $37 billion a
year until 2030 to eliminate both extreme and chronic hunger.
Stoltenberg in a June 17 speech in the U.S.
praising U.S.-NATO relations declared that NATO warmongering and
pressure on its members to increase military spending "is good for
Europe and good for America. Especially since much of this extra money
is spent here in the United States. NATO creates a market for defence
sales. Over the last two years more than two-thirds of European defence
acquisitions were made with U.S. firms. That is more than 140 billion
U.S. dollars' worth of contracts with U.S. defence companies. So, NATO
is good for U.S. security, good for U.S. industry, and good for U.S.
jobs."
Canada, in its latest budget released in April, allocated billions to increase Canada's integration into the U.S. war economy and wars of aggression worldwide. For example: $38 billion over 20 years to upgrade NORAD; $11.5 billion over 20 years to increase NATO's common budget; $3.8 billion over 20 years to acquire new critical weapons systems, replenish stocks of ammunition, and improve digital systems; $3.5 billion to renew and expand Operation REASSURANCE, the Canadian Armed Forces' largest overseas mission contributing to NATO forward military presence in Central and Eastern Europe and $14 billion to support the U.S./NATO proxy war in Ukraine. The list goes on and the NATO Washington Summit will demand even more, setting two per cent of GDP for military spending as the minimum expected of every NATO Member. Canada is projecting its defence-to-GDP ratio to reach 1.76 per cent by 2029-30, at a ballpark of C$57.8 billion annually.
Expansion of NATO's narrow warmongering agenda into Asia
Pacific and Oceania is the third focus of the summit in DC, through
what NATO calls its "Global Partnerships." The Secretary General has
invited the leaders of Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic
of Korea to the Summit to further
deepen cooperation, including on support to Ukraine.
Perhaps Stoltenberg has not seen the news that in a matter of 13 days
since it was launched, a total of 1,024,200 people in south Korea have
signed a petition to request the immediate presentation of an
impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol, which is posted on
the National Assembly's petition website. The people are holding the
Yoon government to account for numerous misdeeds against the people, not
the least of which is its escalation of the danger of war, under the
tutelage of the U.S. imperialists.
NATO's 75th anniversary summit will be a boondoggle on a massive scale. Canadians can expect that large amounts of money will be spent to give the appearance that it has value but it doesn't. It is a huge drain on the resources of member countries, causes nothing but death and destruction and all attempts to keep it going pose serious dangers to the cause of the peoples for peace, democracy and freedom. The only agenda the people should entertain today is to dismantle NATO as soon as possible.
This article was published in
Volume 54 Number 40 - July 8, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS54403.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca