NATO – An Idea Whose Time Has Gone : Information Clearing House - ICH
NATO – An Idea Whose Time Has Gone
By Craig Murray
September 08, 2014 "ICH"
- In
the past dozen years, the armed forces of
NATO countries, whether operating under the
NATO banner or in related ad-hoc coalitions,
have killed many hundreds of thousands of
people. Of those hundreds of thousands of
people, only a few hundred at most ever had
any connection to any attack on a NATO
country.
Whatever modern NATO has become, a defensive
alliance it is not; that fact is beyond
rational dispute.
It
is also the case that the situation in
countries where NATO has been most active in
killing people, including Iraq, Libya,
Afghanistan and Pakistan, has deteriorated.
It has deteriorated politically,
economically, militarily and socially. The
notion that NATO member states could bomb
the world into good was only ever believed
by crazed and fanatical people like Tony
Blair and Jim Murphy of the Henry Jackson
Society. It really should not have needed
empirical investigation to prove it was
wrong, but it has been tried, and has been
proved wrong.
The
NATO states as a group have also embarked on
remarkably similar reductions in the civil
liberties of their own populations during
this period. NATO to me is symbolised by the
fact that its Secretary General, Anders Fogh
Rasmussen, as Danish Prime Minister
blatantly lied to the Danish parliament
about Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction.
When Major Frank Grevil released material
that proved Rasmussen was lying, it was
Grevil who was jailed for three years. In
the United States, no CIA operative has been
prosecuted for their widespread campaign of
torture, but John Kiriakou is in jail for
revealing it.
NATO’s attempt to be global arbiter and
enforcer has been disastrous at all levels.
Its plan to redeem itself by bombing the
Caliphate in Iraq and Syria is a further
sign of madness. Except of course that it
will guarantee some blowback against Western
targets, and that will “justify” further
bombings, and yet more profit for the arms
manufacturers. On that level, it is very
clever and cynical. NATO provides power to
the elite and money to the wealthy.
But
what of Putin’s Russia, I hear you say? I am
no fan of Putin – I think he is a nasty,
dangerous little dictator. But little is the
operative word.
Russia is not a great power. Its GDP is 10%
of the GDP of the EU. Its economy is the
same size as Italy’s. The capabilities of
Russia’s armed forces are massively
exaggerated by the security industry,
including the security services, and by arms
manufacturers. The entire area of Eastern
Ukraine which Russia is disputing has a GDP
smaller than the city of Dundee.
Russia is only any kind of “military threat”
because of its nuclear arsenal. The way
forward to peace is active international
nuclear disarmament – and the existence of
NATO is the greatest obstacle to that. The
idea that almost the entire developed world
needs to encircle and contain Russia with
massive military threat, is as sensible as
the idea that it needs to encircle the UK or
France – both of which have substantially
larger and more diversified economies than
Russia and much larger and more
technologically advanced arms industries.
NATO is by far the largest danger to world
peace. It should be dissolved as a matter of
urgency.
Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human
rights activist. He was British Ambassador to
Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and
Rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to
2010. -
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk
NATO – An Idea Whose Time Has Gone
By Craig Murray
September 08, 2014 "ICH"
- In
the past dozen years, the armed forces of
NATO countries, whether operating under the
NATO banner or in related ad-hoc coalitions,
have killed many hundreds of thousands of
people. Of those hundreds of thousands of
people, only a few hundred at most ever had
any connection to any attack on a NATO
country.
Whatever modern NATO has become, a defensive
alliance it is not; that fact is beyond
rational dispute.
It
is also the case that the situation in
countries where NATO has been most active in
killing people, including Iraq, Libya,
Afghanistan and Pakistan, has deteriorated.
It has deteriorated politically,
economically, militarily and socially. The
notion that NATO member states could bomb
the world into good was only ever believed
by crazed and fanatical people like Tony
Blair and Jim Murphy of the Henry Jackson
Society. It really should not have needed
empirical investigation to prove it was
wrong, but it has been tried, and has been
proved wrong.
The
NATO states as a group have also embarked on
remarkably similar reductions in the civil
liberties of their own populations during
this period. NATO to me is symbolised by the
fact that its Secretary General, Anders Fogh
Rasmussen, as Danish Prime Minister
blatantly lied to the Danish parliament
about Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction.
When Major Frank Grevil released material
that proved Rasmussen was lying, it was
Grevil who was jailed for three years. In
the United States, no CIA operative has been
prosecuted for their widespread campaign of
torture, but John Kiriakou is in jail for
revealing it.
NATO’s attempt to be global arbiter and
enforcer has been disastrous at all levels.
Its plan to redeem itself by bombing the
Caliphate in Iraq and Syria is a further
sign of madness. Except of course that it
will guarantee some blowback against Western
targets, and that will “justify” further
bombings, and yet more profit for the arms
manufacturers. On that level, it is very
clever and cynical. NATO provides power to
the elite and money to the wealthy.
But
what of Putin’s Russia, I hear you say? I am
no fan of Putin – I think he is a nasty,
dangerous little dictator. But little is the
operative word.
Russia is not a great power. Its GDP is 10%
of the GDP of the EU. Its economy is the
same size as Italy’s. The capabilities of
Russia’s armed forces are massively
exaggerated by the security industry,
including the security services, and by arms
manufacturers. The entire area of Eastern
Ukraine which Russia is disputing has a GDP
smaller than the city of Dundee.
Russia is only any kind of “military threat”
because of its nuclear arsenal. The way
forward to peace is active international
nuclear disarmament – and the existence of
NATO is the greatest obstacle to that. The
idea that almost the entire developed world
needs to encircle and contain Russia with
massive military threat, is as sensible as
the idea that it needs to encircle the UK or
France – both of which have substantially
larger and more diversified economies than
Russia and much larger and more
technologically advanced arms industries.
NATO is by far the largest danger to world
peace. It should be dissolved as a matter of
urgency.
Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human
rights activist. He was British Ambassador to
Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and
Rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to
2010. -
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk
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