– NATO...Are Its Final Days Just Ahead
 

NATO: Hazardous for our Health
Anti-War.com

Jonathan Steele got it right the other day when he said it's high time to disband NATO. Far from being the joint defensive unit it was set up to be, protecting the West from the Red Menace, the now purposeless NATO is trying to justify its existence along the lines of fighting America's wars - for example the never-ending war on terror - and in the process it runs the risk of bringing more of the same onto Europe. It thus becomes a danger for those of living on a generally peaceful continent.

NATO's secretary general, the co-opted Dutchman Jaap de Hoop Scheffer,stated this week that

"'...if you want to have a trans-Atlantic dialogue between grown-ups, I know that any president and any American administration is willing to listen to the European voice as long as it is one European voice. If it is five different voices, they will not take the trouble to listen and they will wonder what is Europe,' he said."

'They will wonder what is Europe.' Truer words...

Yes, the point can be extrapolated. For the Bushies, singular opinion and multiple points of view are frustrating because they require thought. Discernment. And listening. But this not an administration that is very interested in such disciplines.

And yes, at a broader level, this strict American policy of tolerating 'one European voice' only attests to a policy of dealing with one world voice - that is, its own. And American leaders love to hear it echo in their allies' mouths. Anything more - simply does not compute. I mean, who has time for other points of view, when you've got a whole world to run?

Finally, on a slightly different angle, NATO is harmful in that provides delusions of hope to small countries who believe all of their problems will be solved once they join. (Georgia and Macedonia, I'm looking at you). However, such countries, with their own pernicious security problems, have the potential to actually break the alliance up. Wouldn't that be fun? Break out the kazoos and party hats!

Really, what would happen if civil war broke out between Macedonians and Albanians in the latter? What would NATO do? And what about the former, with its own breakaway provinces and regional antagonists? Oh yeah, war with Russia, that would be sweet!

The myth of all for one and one for all is only there because it's hardly ever been tested, and in the rare cases where it has (uh, Cyprus) US policy overruled any input from other NATO allies (notably, faithful friend Britain).

And so, in the end, NATO can only guarantee the peace in countries that are already hopelessly peaceful to begin with. But expanding it, while more and more fighting America's war on terror, threatens even that equation.