‘Forget NATO,’ Rants British Empire Editor: We Need Strength To Contain Russia and China

FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

‘Forget NATO,’ Rants British Empire Editor: We Need Strength To Contain Russia and China

March 15, 2018 (EIRNS)—In a totally insane column on March 14, but no more insane than the collapsing British Empire itself, Allister Heath, editor of the Sunday Telegraph, wrote under the headline: “Forget NATO. We Need a New World Alliance To Take On Totalitarian Capitalists in Russia and China.”

His conclusions are:

“The stark reality is that the world is now a much more dangerous place which requires a completely new foreign and defense policy. First, the U.K. needs to spend more on defense. The target should be 2.5% of GDP; we should no longer assume that conventional wars are over. With the exception of France, our EU neighbors don’t want to spend to protect themselves, seeking instead to free-ride on America; Brexit is a great opportunity to break with such an utterly irresponsible approach.

“Second, we must take the lead in building a new global military and economic alliance of like-minded countries committed to the promotion of capitalism and liberal democracy. NATO is no longer enough: It is too European, too many of its members are outright pacifists, and Turkey’s membership is problematic. The UN is ineffective and, like NATO, the product of a previous, 20th century conflict.

“The new network should be based on mutual self-interest and respectful of national sovereignty; it would be open to all liberal democracies that practice capitalism, and that respect human rights, intellectual property and privacy. It should be a values alliance, governed by a treaty guaranteeing military self-help and seeking the freest possible trade in goods and services. America would be a member, as would Canada, India, Israel, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, France (if it remains sufficiently distinct from the emerging European super-state) and many others.

“Such an alliance would be the biggest shift in geopolitics since the creation of the UN. It would dramatically shift the global balance of power, and allow the liberal democracies finally to fight back. It would endow the world with the sorts of robust institutions that are required to contain Russia and China and to deal with cyber-terrorism or chemical warfare. Britain needs a new role in the world: building such a network would be our perfect mission.”