The world is enveloped in a blanket of perpetual conflict. Invasions,
occupation, illicit sanctions, and regime change have become currencies
and orders of the day. One organization – the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) – is repeatedly, and very controversially, involved
in some form or another in many of these conflicts led by the US and its
allies. NATO spawned from the Cold War. Its existence was justified by
Washington and Western Bloc politicians as a guarantor against any
Soviet and Eastern Bloc invasion of Western Europe, but all along the
Alliance served to cement Washington’s influence in Europe and continue
what was actually America’s post-World War II occupation of the European
continent. In 1991 the raison d’être of the Soviet threat
ended with the collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War.
Nevertheless NATO remains and continues to alarmingly expand eastward,
antagonizing Russia and its ex-Soviet allies. China and Iran are also
increasingly monitoring NATO’s moves as it comes into more frequent
contact with them.
Yugoslavia was a turning point for the Atlantic Alliance and its
mandate. The organization moved from the guise of a defensive posture
into an offensive pose under the pretexts of humanitarianism. Starting
from Yugoslavia, NATO began its journey towards becoming a global
military force. From its wars in the Balkans, it began to broaden its
international area of operations outside of the Euro-Atlantic zone into
the Caucasus, Central Asia, East Africa, the Middle East, North Africa,
and the Indian Ocean. It has virtually turned the Mediterranean Sea into
a NATO lake with the NATO Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul
Cooperation Initiative, while it seeks to do the same to the Black Sea
and gain a strategic foothold in the Caspian Sea region. The Gulf
Security Initiative between NATO and the Gulf Cooperation Council seeks
to also dominate the Persian Gulf and to hem in Iran. Israel has become a
de facto member of the military organization. At the same time, NATO
vessels sail the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. These warships are
deployed off the coasts of Somalia, Djibouti, and Yemen as part of
NATO’s objectives to create a naval cordon of the seas controlling
important strategic waterways and maritime transit routes.
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