Stoltenberg Presents ‘NATO 2030’ Geopolitical Bloc with Australia, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand

June 9, 2020 (EIRNS)—NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, during a keynote address yesterday to a virtual event hosted by the Atlantic Council, unveiled his “NATO 2030” vision. Forget the “North Atlantic” origins of the treaty organization. He stressed a “global vision.” He said NATO should be associating with Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea.

“This is an opportunity to reflect on where we see our alliance 10 years from now, and how it will continue to keep us safe in a more uncertain world,” Stoltenberg said. The supposed global trends that Stoltenberg predicted that NATO would still be dealing with in 2030 include what he called an even more intransigent Russia under Vladimir Putin; ISIS and other terror groups still continuing their efforts to undermine the values the West holds dear; and the intensification of the power of a rising China.

Stoltenberg spoke in high globaloney, such as, “We must resist the temptation of national solutions, and we must live up to our values: freedom, democracy and the rule of law.” He said, “To do this, we must stay strong militarily, be more united politically and take a broader approach globally.”

He said, “Using NATO more politically also means using a broader range of tools, military and nonmilitary, economic and diplomatic,” he said. “This is especially important as we work together to strengthen the resilience of our societies and our economies, and to ensure that we do not import vulnerabilities into our critical infrastructure, industries and supply chains.”

“Is China the new enemy?” was the first question from the German Marshall Fund President Dr. Karen Donfried. Stoltenberg said, no, but then went on to describe how China’s economy was growing to be the biggest in the world, and China is expanding all over the place, including the Arctic and Africa, and all this posses a new security challenge for NATO.

The second question, from Atlantic Council President Frederick Kempe, asked Stoltenberg to discuss the economic side of NATO 2030, because, Kempe said, economic collaboration is specified in Article 2 of the NATO treaty, which few people know.