Posted on 05/06/2009 5:09:14 AM PDT by pobeda1945
NATO is beginning its large-scale military drills in Georgia today, May 6. A diplomatic scandal broke out between Russia and NATO shortly before the start of the drills. NATO expelled two Russian envoys from the headquarters of the alliance in Brussels on May 2. Official spokespeople for the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Belgium stated May 5 that the two Russian diplomats must leave the territory of the country. Russia’s Ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, stated that the meeting of the foreign ministers of Russia and NATO members, which was slated to take place in May, would be delayed because of the decision.
In the meantime, the military command of a tank battalion in Georgia declared its insubordination to authorities. Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili arrived at the army base in Mukhrovani and soon announced that the mutiny had been suppressed. Saakashvili did not miss a chance to accuse Russia of plotting the mutiny although he did not give any evidence to prove that.
Pravda.ru interviewed Deputy Prime Minister of South Ossetia, Inal Pliyev, regarding the latest events in Georgia.
“What do you think of NATO’s current military drills in Georgia?”
“This step is being deliberately made to destabilize the situation in the Caucasus. Last year, Georgia attacked South Ossetia after similar military exercises had taken place in the country. A part of NATO’s military hardware, which was delivered for the drills, was left in Georgia.
“NATO intends to demonstrate its support to Georgia pushing it towards aggressive actions against Russia. Georgia tries to intimidate South Ossetia and Abkhazia too. NATO did not cancel the drills in Georgia to show everyone that it could rebel against Russia.
“Seven countries, including Kazakhstan, Armenia, Moldavia and Serbia, refused to take part in the drills after Russia set out its negative attitude to them. It means that Russia’s opinion is much more important to those countries than NATO’s opinion. Even Estonia and Latvia will not send their military men to the region.”
“What was the reason of the scandal with Russian diplomats?”
“Brussels was guided by its personal vengeance on Russia’s Ambassador Dmitry Rogozin, who professionally and decisively defends Russia’s interests.”
“Why does NATO need the scandal, what for?”
“To justify its existence. More and more people in NATO member countries ask themselves what the point of the organization is, why it exists. Why would a German citizen pay taxes to maintain a whole army of idling generals and bureaucrats? No one is going to attack Germany in the foreseeable future.
“It is only the countries of the former socialist camp that are thrilled to become NATO members. They see the alliance as a source of income and a way to settle their scores with Russia. However, the rearmament of the army on NATO’s pattern is very cost-intensive. They will also have to send troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. I do not think that the Poles and the Czechs would be happy to do it.
“NATO is concerned about its own future. It needs to prove its usefulness to the general public. The organization may collapse, which pushes anti-Russian neo-conservatives in the NATO administration towards taking desperate measures to launch a global military and political crisis.”
“Why was there a need to hold the military drills now?”
“NATO, just like Georgia, is in dire need of a war right now. A war will distract people’s attention from internal contradictions within the artificial formation of the old days.
“Georgia is formally not a NATO member, but the alliance virtually uses the country at its own discretion, just like it does with its other members. The military drills in Georgia demonstrate the support to the Georgian President, the dictator, I would say.
“Mikhail Saakashvili is a sick individual, who is gripped with panic and hysterics now. He is capable of doing anything using his 30,000-strong army.”
“What could be the outcome of the drills?
“NATO’s steps in Georgia are doomed. They can only unleash a new conflict which would lead to new victims. NATO’s any success in the Caucasus is temporal. Georgia is not a reliable country . The recent mutiny can only prove it.
“The fact that several countries declined their participation in the drills means that NATO is incapable of going against Russia without causing damage to its reputation. The influence of the alliance has been decreasing, and it may lead to its collapse.”
Why doesn’t Obama schedule a withdrawal of US troops from Europe? It’s time that the Europeans defend themselves. And it won’t be as easy for them to support a socialist economy when they have a defense budget.
At the end of the cold war the smart move would have been for the US to ditch NATO (just as Russia ditched the Warsaw pact) and for the USA and the USSR to have formed a mutual defense pact. Nobody would have been able to take on both the US and the former USSR.
Instead, the “one worlders” at the State Dept. wanted to expand NATO to include just about every country in the world—which naturally meant pushing Russia into a corner. What reaction did the State Dept. expect from Russia after that?
George Washington's warning about foreign entanglements is aptly applicable and should be heeded.
NATO is really just the US and the Brits, with a few token forces from the rest. The NATO Charter says “An attack on one, is an attack on all”, but looking at it in reality, it is only a something that will drag the US into conflict.
George Washington’s warning about foreign entanglements is aptly applicable and should be heeded.
There was no USSR to form a “mutal defense pact” with, and the idea that Russia and the U.S. would form such a pact is bizarre. Russia’s national interests have always remained keenly toward exerting control over what it feels should be its sphere of influence, and there is no possibility the U.S. would have stood for its machinations, just as it would have stood for few of ours, particularly as it regained its confidence and strength. (What tenuous, house-of-cards “strength” it has regained.)
Crude Russian propaganda. Very crude.
Crude Russian propaganda. Very crude.
Especially if you're ready to see the Russians overthrow the governments of their neighbors in order to re-establish the hegemony lost when the USSR & Warsaw Pact folded.
If, on the other hand, you're one of those countries with recent memories of what its like to be governed by Moscow, NATO membership makes all the sense in the world.
We won and they lost so their alliance got smaller and ours got bigger. Why is that so hard to understand? Why would we shrink when we won? No, we won, so our influence grows and theirs shrinks. That's the way it works. If Russians don't like this, then they should have won the Cold war instead of losing it.
Hoplite: Especially if you're ready to see the Russians overthrow the governments….
Joe: You and Hoplite should form a team...
Together you're both brilliant.
RUSSIA DELENDA EST!
Precisely.
NATO should have died before it's 50th birthday.
The very concept of NATO "An attack on one, is an attack on us all", is a way of softening the concept of national sovereignty.
One of the definitions of national sovereignty is the definition and defense of one's own country's borders. Now we're supposed to accept and treat an attack on Norway exactly as though it is an attack on US soil? That's nonsense! Unless we run Norway's government, there's no way we should defend their soil as precious as our own.
NATO is a globalist tool and should be disbanded.
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