PRESS RELEASE
NATO Getting Increasingly Hysterical Advice About Russia
Nov. 29, 2017 (EIRNS)—Two reports have been released this week that might legitimately raise questions about the sanity of some of the institutions advising the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The famous quote, "Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad," comes to mind.
The first report comes from a Slovakia-based think tank called GlobSec, lead by retired Marine Gen. John Allen, which claims that NATO will be defeated in a war with Russia unless NATO can convince China to join the war on the side of NATO.
"NATO risks falling behind the pace of political change and technological developments that could alter the character of warfare, the structure of international relations and the role of the Alliance itself,"
the report, termed the NATO Adaptation Initiative, says, reports Newsweek.
"NATO must ensure it has the capacity to fight a future war if it is to deter and prevent such a war. And it must have the political tools and partnerships to reinforce its military capabilities,"
it added. Part of this strategy included reaching out to non-NATO states such as Australia, China, India, Japan, and South Korea.
The report urges NATO—facing historic challenges to its worldwide goals, Newsweek intones—to reach out to the next leading military power after the United States and Russia. Not only has China established the world’s largest standing army; Chinese President Xi Jinping has set out to revamp and revolutionize his armed forces into a world-class military "built to fight."
The second report comes from the Atlantic Council, calling for a permanent military presence in the Balkans for the purpose of countering Russian influence in the region by way of Belgrade. Turning Camp Bondsteel, the U.S. base and headquarters in Kosovo for the NATO peacekeeping mission there, into a permanent deployment
"would demonstrate an enduring U.S. commitment to security in the region and anchor the United States’ long-term ability to influence developments,"
reports the Voice of America. What the Atlantic Council is proposing has nothing to do with the wellbeing of Serbs or other peoples of the Balkans. Last month, Voice of America notes, Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin criticized remarks by Hoyt Brian Yee, the top U.S. diplomat in the region, who had called on Belgrade to choose between aligning itself with either Washington and Brussels or Moscow. The "statement was not made by a friend or a person respecting Serbia, respecting our right to decide independently," Vulin said.
