Susanne Kühn, Neue Internationale 266, July/August 2022
NATO leaders celebrated in the midst of war. They themselves present the conference on 28 and 29 June as a “historic summit” with an “undoubted message”. As if anyone had doubted that the military alliance of the Western imperialist powers and their semi-colonial vassal states had become a central instrument in the new Cold War, in the struggle for the redivision of the world.
Gone are the not-so-old days when NATO was declared “obsolete” by Donald Trump and “brain dead” by Emmanuel Macron. Gone are the days when the SPD and Greens struggled with the 2% target and warned against excessive military spending. Gone are the days when some NATO countries wanted to revive their partnership with Russia and relax relations.
Fundamental changes
The war over Ukraine fundamentally changed the situation in just a few months and the NATO summit in Madrid ratified, codified these changes.
1. NATO has a clear enemy again
Gone are the days when the goals and opponents of the pact, which had been glorified as a “defensive alliance”, became blurred. Russia is now officially declared the greatest and most direct threat to the international order, the main military adversary. In second place is China, which is described as a “challenge to NATO’s security, interests and values.” The US actually wanted to formulate this passage more clearly, but Germany and other countries rejected it. After all, China is the most important trading partner and the interests of all US allies are not congruent.
2. The war over Ukraine is “our” war
Support for Ukraine, which is in fact treated as if it were already a NATO member, remains high on the agenda. Further arms deliveries, logistical and financial support as well as sanctions against Russia were promised. In view of Russia’s progress around Donetsk and Luhansk, these are also urgently needed, because a defeat of Ukraine would of course also be one of NATO. As justified as the self-defense of Ukrainians is, the war is increasingly becoming one in which the Kiev government acts as a proxy for NATO and the imperialist powers that dominate it, above all the USA.
3. Upgrade and expansion
The reactionary invasion and brutal attack of Russian imperialism serves as a welcome pretext for NATO to advance its own political and military goals and to disguise them democratically and humanitarianly as an “act of defense”.
Almost all states have adopted rearmament programmes, in some cases to an extent that amounts to a historical turning point. Germany is actually leading the way with the 100 billion euro programme and constitutional amendments.
Overall, NATO has massively changed its doctrine. Armies for a European land war are needed. The “rapid reaction force” on the eastern flank – NATO does not know another anyway – is to be increased from 40,000 to 300,000 soldiers, who can be mobilized at short notice. In the Baltic States, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, combat groups, so-called battlegroups, are also stationed. The US is massively increasing its military presence.
Sweden and Finland have been accepted into the glorious NATO family. The border with Russia will thus be extended by 1,300 kilometres.
To the delight of all NATO countries, Turkey abandoned its opposition to the accession of the two Scandinavian countries, more precisely, the two fulfilled the demands of the Erdogan regime. In order to be included in the “defence alliance” of the Western powers, the Nordic democracies dropped the Kurdish political refugees and their organizations and pledged their full support in the fight against the PKK. The Turkish regime has not only achieved its goals but is also preparing the next attack on the Kurdish enclave in Rojava, without having to fear criticism from its “democratic” allies.
New Cold War
The Madrid decisions ratify a new Cold War that has been taking shape for years and has reached a new military peak with the fight for Ukraine. As little as freedom and democracy are at stake for the NATO states, the imperialist alliance is not a “defence pact”.
Rather, NATO is a central element of the confrontation with the emerging other imperialist bloc around Russia and China in the struggle for the redivision of the world. It is anything but brain dead or obsolete for the ruling classes in the US, Germany, Britain or France. Its strategic orientation, which has now also been officially adopted, represents a threat to the working class and the oppressed throughout the world, even if it “democratically” disguises its imperial goals in the face of Russia’s reactionary attack on Ukraine and glorifies its own rearmament as defensive action.
In Germany and all other NATO states, we must resolutely oppose the war drive of our own bourgeoisie and rearmament – on the streets, in factories, in the fight against war and crisis. No to any rearmament, withdrawal of all troops and military advisers! Not a cent, not a person for NATO and the Bundeswehr! Withdrawal from the NATO alliance!