Tuesday, September 02, 2014

NATO - You're Not the Master of the Universe. Now, Stand Down.

NATO's outgoing CEO, er Secretary-General, Anders 'Foggy' Rasmussen, should really send caviar and roses to Vladimir Putin.  NATO hasn't done all that well on Foggy's watch - the cock-up in Libya, the hapless adventure in Afghanistan everybody would rather forget, the absorption of new members from eastern Europe more eager to get under NATO's umbrella than to pull their own weight.

Until Putin made his move on the Crimea, NATO had the makings of an alliance without much purpose and a very spotty track record.  Desultory is a word that comes to mind.

NATO needed a real enemy, someone we could all perceive as a direct threat to us, the world. Libyans or Afghans didn't really count. Small potatoes.

Along came Vlad and the Crimea to make our dreams come true.  They're Back!!! Those awful Russians with their awful ways.  Let's mobilize.  Assemble the fleet, set sail.  Prowl the skies with those fighters.  Parade the Legion.  We've got barbarians at the gate - and just in time!

Except I don't know that the people of the "old NATO" nations are up for another nuclear superpower confrontation.   We've done that once.  It was a costly, unproductive, and sometimes worrisome pain in the ass.  One Cuban missile crisis is enough for one lifetime.  We know that there are too many people on our side, people like Foggy Rasmussen, who are just too keen to get a new cold war stoked up.

We've been pushing Russia's buttons ever since George H.W. Bush promised Gorbachev that, if only East Germany was allowed to come into NATO's fold, the alliance would never extend further eastward.  One provocation atop another - until NATO was parked on Moscow's doorstep.

Enough.  The world is going to be up to its alligators in existential threats this century.  We don't need an ersatz cold war added to it.  Let's focus on ways to try to get through this century with mankind more or less intact instead of engineering ways to see there is no next century.  Enough.

4 comments:

LeDaro said...

Mound, your post sums it up quite well. We don’t need another cold-war and public of NATO countries don’t want another war of any kind. It is the machos at the top who are trying to impress the public. I am sure you have heard some of the Repugs in U.S. Even King Harper wants to tell the world that he is the big macho without anything to back it up.

Troy said...

The war in Ukraine is pretty much over. Novorossiya won. It may take some time for the fighting to end, but NATO's goals for Ukraine are moot. Russia's dictating the terms for the ceasefire, although at this point, it might as well be the terms for Ukraine's surrender.

A P said...

"Putin made his move in Crimea".

No, sorry the people of the AUTONOMOUS REPUBLIC of Crimea made their move, 95% vote in favour of leaving the Ukraine FEDERATION.

It people in Quebec had voted 95% in favour of leaving Canada, then the National Assembly voted to seek federation wit hthe US, would the US president of thr day be accused of "making his move"? Of course not.

rumleyfips said...

Listening to the CBC news this morning in Nova Scotia was a real hoot. At 7AM the Ukrainian administration announced a ceasefire with Russia. Strange as The Ukraine and Russia are not firing at eack other.

Half an hour later, Novorussia said fine as long as The Ukrainians leave our territory. Strange as the Ukrainians not surrounded are in full retreat.

At 8 a Kremlin spokesman said that nobody had talked to them.

At 9 , the Ukrainian PM said that his previous announcement was a misunderstand and no talkes had taken place.

This Ukrainian clownshow is sure to make the Nato bigshots glad they have hitched their wagon to a loosing cause.