NATO Must Go

If I were to attend a peace rally against the military debacle happening in Ukraine, I would arm myself with two signs. The first sign would say, “NA-TO MUST GO”. The other would read, “DE-NATO-IZE EUROPE”. I believe the NATO military alliance is at the crux of this conflict and many others.

The North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) was signed on April 4, 1949. In 1950, just over a year later, at the start of the Korean War, NATO became involved in the military operation of a war in Asia. Why? Simple, to contain a Soviet ally, North Korea. From its inception, NATO has been an alliance to contain Soviets/Russians in Europe and worldwide.

Senator Robert Taft

Sen. Robert Taft spoke on why he voted against creating NATO. He called the treaty “a program by which we arm all these nations against Russia” He continued, “It thus becomes an offensive and defensive military alliance against Russia. I believe our foreign policy should be aimed primarily at security and peace, and I believe such an alliance is more likely to produce war than peace.”

Taft went on to describe what he believed to be a Russian take on a NATO build-up in western Europe, “Russia sees itself ringed about gradually by so-called defensive arms from Norway and Denmark to Turkey and Greece, it may form a different opinion. It may decide that the arming of western Europe, regardless of its present purpose, looks to an attack upon Russia.“

Taft’s prediction did not consider the Russian response to a NATO expansion into eastern Europe. Today former Warsaw Pact nations like the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, have been brought into NATO along with Slovenia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia was admitted into NATO. The ring that Mr. Taft spoke of has tightened. NATO is now on parts of the Russian border.

George F. Kennan – Former Ambassador to Russia

Former ambassador to Russia and architect of the Cold War George F. Kennan said, “What bothers me is how superficial and ill-informed the whole Senate …” ”I was particularly bothered by the references to Russia as a country dying to attack Western Europe. Don’t people understand? Our differences in the cold war were with the Soviet Communist regime. And now we are turning our backs on the very people who mounted the greatest bloodless revolution in history to remove that Soviet regime.” NATO was a Cold War military alliance against our adversaries, the Soviet Union, not the people that removed them.

William Burns – Former Ambassador to Russia

Former US Ambassador to Russia William J. Burns, who is now CIA director, admitted in a classified 2008 cable that NATO expansion to Ukraine crosses Russian security redlines. In that State Department cable titled “Nyet Means Nyet: Russia’s NATO Enlargement Redlines”, Burns cautioned the issue of NATO membership for Ukraine. Burns predicted that Ukraine “could potentially split the country in two, leading to violence or even, some claim, civil war, which would force Russia to decide whether to intervene.”

Last week Putin explained the reality of Senator Taft’s prediction. “For the United States and its allies, it is a policy of containing Russia, with obvious geopolitical dividends. For our country, it is a matter of life and death, a matter of our historical future as a nation. This is not an exaggeration; this is a fact. It is not only a very real threat to our interests but the very existence of our state and its sovereignty. It is the red line which we have spoken about on numerous occasions. They have crossed it.”

For 30 years, Russia has not on wavered on this redline warning. It is not a surprise that Putin followed through on the message. However, idiots like NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg continues to incite war expansion. Statements like; “deploying parts of its combat-ready response force and would continue to send weapons to Ukraine, including air defenses” reeks of war posting.

“Russia is actually challenging core values for security and demanding that NATO should withdraw all forces and infrastructure from almost half of our members. And they have stated that if we don’t meet their demands, there will be “military-technical consequences.” Stoltenberg out of context quotes is rhetoric designed to incite the misinformed.

Because Stoltenberg fails to mention is that NATO expansion poses an existential threat to Russia by placing missile sites, military bases, and combat troops on its border. He also fails to mention that NATO expansion violates an agreement (all NATO members are signatories) stipulating that all parties will refrain from any action that could affect the security interests of the other members.

Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson

How many wars will it take before we listen to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson? Washington advised against permanent alliances, and Jefferson called for devotion to “peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.”

Congressman Ron Paul

In 2008, from the House Floor, Congressman Ron Paul said that “NATO should be disbanded, not expanded.” Washington, Jefferson, Taft, Kennan, Burns, and Paul cannot all be wrong. NATO MUST GO!