[excerpted]
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0211/S00093.htm
Controlling NATO: The Real Agenda At Prague
By Selwyn Manning – Scoop Deputy Editor
Between November 21-23 NATO member countries will descend on the Czech
Republic’s capital city Prague. There, heads of state, presidents and prime
ministers will discuss issues such as the “NATO response force proposal” – a
policy central to the United State’s “National Security Strategy”. NATO plans
to draw into its fold Eastern European states vying for entry to the European
Union. It is a consolidation of a New European Pact, a forging of a new
military and economic order.
During the Cold War years the USA dominated NATO strategy. Post Cold-War NATO
shaped into a more isolated friend of US foreign policy. But the Bush
Administration is positioning to again dominate NATO. A necessity largely due
to Germany, France, Russia respectively refusing to become lapdogs to Bush
diplomacy as British Prime Minister Tony Blair has become. For Bush, NATO is
the vehicle that will accommodate a military coalition that will “Partner” the
USA in its imminent war against Iraq, Libya and a host of other “Axis”
countries.
European diplomacy has clearly often been the nucleus of destruction. Is it now
the only buffer left between peace-comparative and Manifest Destiny – the dream
of Fortress USA to express its institutions around the world?
The USA’s new foreign policy strategy embraces what diplomats call “pre-emptive
defence” – ie; striking opponents before they can strike you. But will European
leaders risk subscribing to the USA’s global dominance framework? See also:
Imperial PAX Americana
This question is what marks the Prague summit. The short to medium term future
of millions of people will ride on the outcome. Should European rhetoric be
laced with appeasement, accommodating the Bush Administration’s grand-plan,
innocent people, worldwide, will choke from ashes in their mouths.
NATO in Transformation
Officially the Prague Summit is all about NATO gathering European states into
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization incognito with the EU’s push to
consolidate and become one. The European Union has been paving the way to allow
entry for relatively new former eastern block economies into the Union.
But the EU's another story. Clearly NATO’s push is more to do with the United
States massing an army of awesome proportions. The purpose: to counter a
perceived Islamic-Arab Global threat, and to rustle up the means to enforce
western alliance control of Eurasian oil and mineral wealth, and to advance
United States military dominion over more than half the globe’s surface.
The United States has long coveted control over the former Soviet republics of
Central Asia. As Gore Vidal wrote recently: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikstan
and Kyrgyzstan are all 'of importance from the standpoint of security and
historical ambitions to at least three of their most immediate and most
powerful neighbours - Russia, Turkey and Iran”. For more see… The Enemy
Within .
This is just one factor in a mass of complex diplomatic considerations and
networks that will be partially tied down in Prague.
Let’s consider a series of transitional points
NATO is transforming from a counter-balance to post WWII Warsaw Pact ideology,
to a military wing progressor of capitalist-western globalisation. Intelligence
reports from European states reveal a co-ordinated positioning of economic
sectors, European states, detailing perceived threats to reforms driving
economic and social progress.
Intelligence agencies are being co-ordinated from the hub of an integrated
alliance – centrally organised by the CIA. Feeding into the intelligence mix
are the old practitioners: including the MI5, KGB, Mossad, Direction de la
Surveillance du Territoire [French DST].
This western intelligence alliance is seen active daily, in foreign affairs
reports, warnings to citizens to defer travelling to various parts of the
world. Secret reports to intelligence services of friendly nations on
operatives and individuals who may be residing within their regions. The USA is
central to the distribution of the information. This was seen post-the Bali
bombing and the subsequent fallout of who was told what, when and if.
Backed by this mix of intel, NATO would play the dominating role in global
enforcement.
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The NATO member countries are: Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark,
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Poland, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, The united States of America.
Candidate nations are: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia.
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So does NATO conjure up security and reassurance for Europe? Recent operations
have their critics: European writer Alexander Zaitchik eloquently writes: NATO
means North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the body that has kept a fairly low
profile since bombing Serbia in 1999: “That was a long hot NATO summer,
featuring very angry Russian prime ministers (Primakov was en route to
Washington for talks when the bombing started), downed U.S. B-2 Stealth bombers
(for which the Serbs used the Czech-made Tamara radar), and a
daring "accidental" U.S. direct hit on the Chinese embassy in Belgrade (the CIA
swore there was a spaghetti stain on the map). You might also remember NATO
from the absurd U.S.-Russian race for the Pristina airport after the Kosovo
cease-fire. An overzealous U.S. General named Wesley Clark wanted to take back
the airbase by force after Russian peacekeepers beat his troops to it by an
hour. His plans were thwarted only when the gruff British commander Sir
Mike "Vader" Jackson pulled rank and ordered Clark to back off. Thus did
Jackson prevent a U.S.-Russian fire-fight and emerge as the sole hero in NATO's
war with Serbia.”
For others, NATO was the balancing factor in a Europe threatened by Soviet
totalitarianism. NATO needs to transform to become effective once again.
A NATO statement summarises: “The establishment of the NATO-Russia Council at
the Rome Summit on 28 May 2002 opened a new chapter in NATO-Russia relations.
The Council brings together the 19 NATO Allies and Russia to identify and
pursue opportunities for joint action at 20 as equal partners. Diplomats see
this as real progress toward a united and peaceful Europe.”
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