Will Russia collide with NATO?

Written by – Elijah J. Magnier:

The US is trying hard to show that the world is against Russia and that its danger will expand from Ukraine to Finland and Sweden, and other eastern European countries under the Soviet Union’s control. In fact, only the west is concerned. But it has prompted Sweden and Finland to request North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) membership. These neutral countries, including the former Warsaw pact members, believe they can be protected by NATO’s article five, which allows a response of all NATO members if any state member comes under attack. Is NATO serious about defending its members in case of threat? Will Moscow collide with NATO after its war in Ukraine?

There is a genuine concern among several European countries that Russia may have expansionist goals on the old continent, as the US successfully justified to the world the flow of weapons to Ukraine rather than promote a peaceful solution. Along with its European partners, it is spending tens of billions on arms supplies rather than on food and reconstruction plans. Indeed, the US did everything to drag Russia into a war with its neighbour to divide the European-Russian formerly solid commercial and trade bond. The mainstream media also demonised President Vladimir Putin in an unsuccessful attempt to isolate him domestically. US senator Lindsey Graham even called for a “coup where Putin could be assassinated”. The aim is to invite a Russian reaction and show that Putin’s choices are devastating for the Russian economy.

However, Moscow managed to remain in one piece against the western campaign and sanctions- which are having a severe boomerang effect, in fact, on the world and the European economy in particular, which has caught itself in a trap. Russia is exporting 30 per cent less of its fossil fuel to the EU, but its revenue has doubled due to the increase in prices. The Rouble (Russian currency) bounced back to a level higher in the last five years than before the 24^th of February when Russian troops walked into Ukraine, despite the western suspension of over $320 billion of the Bank of Russia’s foreign currency reserves.

Nevertheless, in general, the level of hatred and hostility toward Russia became unprecedented in the west since the end of the Cold War (1945-1990). European leaders are even planning to ban Russian citizens from acquiring real estate. The cultural iron curtain has been adopted against Russian artists and cultural institutions, indicating that the western war against Russia has little to do with Ukraine but with a vengeful policy against the one who dares to challenge the US hegemony. Western collective punishment has become a Russophobia. Russia has challenged and rebelled against the NATO expansion on its borders in Ukraine, a move that is only permitted to the US and its allies and no one else. Indeed, the Chinese security pact with the Solomon Islands was considered a “red line” to Australia, situated  2000 km from the Island, and to the US, located at 9800 km.

Since 1990, NATO’s reach was supposed to cease or dismantle the 12 members who made up its nucleus following the end of the cold war and the Perestroika that dissolved the Warsaw Pact. However, the US broke its promise – as President Bill Clinton said in his last article – despite several warnings from members of the US administration, ambassadors, academics, media professionals and experts. NATO expanded from 12 to 30 members and is expected to include new members shortly (Finland and Sweden), significantly increasing tension with Russia on its borders. Suppose the US and Australia feel in their right to contest the signature of a Chinese-Solomon Island security pact. In that case, the expansion of NATO will trigger the same Russian concern on its border, considering that the US has already deployed 150 nuclear bombs on the European continent, all directed toward Russia.

Moscow can’t be blamed for its lack of reaction to the first NATO expansion in 1999, nine years after Perestroika, when Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic officially joined. Russia was not in a solid position to stand firmly and oppose NATO’s new members. It took president Putin seventeen years to send the first official and public warning at the Munich Security Conference in 2007, in the presence of world representatives, including US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates.

Putin wondered, “where were the firm security and the binding promises and guarantee given to the Soviet Union that the NATO army will not be placed outside Germany and won’t expand into Eastern Europe”? The US refused to pay attention to Putin’s warning voiced over the years and responded 

Proofread by: Maurice Brasher