RUSSIA’S GIFT TO NATO
Russia’s reckless and ruinous invasion of Ukraine has rejuvenated US dominion. One of the expressions of this dominion is NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). NATO was founded in 1949 in the early days of the Cold War to stop supposed Soviet and Communist expansion in Europe; actually the expansion had already happened by 1945 with the incorporation of eastern Europe into the Soviet bloc. But NATO modernized and standardized European military forces with US financing and control.
When the USSR abandoned eastern Europe in 1989 and collapsed in 1991, what was to become of NATO? Some thought it should be disbanded or wound down, but US hawks wanted to maintain NATO and expand it to eastern Europe to continue US dominance in Europe and elsewhere. So it was repurposed to become a kind of world enforcer for US power: Belgrade was bombed in 1999 under NATO auspices. NATO supported the US in Afghanistan from 2001 and overthrew Qaddafi in Libya in 2011. But the Afghanistan and Libya operations were not popular in Europe: the Afghanistan operation failed, and the Libyan operation resulted in thousands of African migrants leaving Libya shores for Europe, many to die at sea. So NATO was in something of a dilemma in the 2010s.
Then came Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. NATO jumped in enthusiastically to support Ukraine: it even gained two new members, Finland and Sweden. Hawks and military supporters in the US were jubilant. Military budgets grew in the US with little opposition. NATO gained new life.
Sources: Andrew Bacevich:, “Ukraine and the Great Revival of American Empire”, Information Clearing House, 7/20/23 and Grey Anderson, “NATO’s Hegemonic Fix”, New Left Review, vol.140/41, 2023.