Opinion

Neither Trump nor Russia destroyed NATO

photo_camera OTAN

Donald Trump tried to do it when he became President of the United States, with his frontal attack on NATO, disavowing the Transatlantic Alliance and telling Europeans to pay for their own defence. Vladimir Putin, too, with his invasion of Ukraine, hoped that the departure of Angela Merkel - at the head of Germany - would mean that she would cease to be the axis of cohesion that she had played for many years not only in NATO itself but also within the European Union (EU).

French President Emmanuel Macron went so far as to say at the end of 2019 that NATO was experiencing "brain death" and practically at risk in the face of Trump's stance. 

It has been Russia's invasion of Ukraine that has energised the Alliance, that war move has injected pure, hard adrenaline into a 30-nation defence bloc that is more cohesive than ever before in its history.

Yesterday in Brussels, where the Belgian capital has become the epicentre of Western diplomacy, the embryo of a new world order was born because there is a clear defence of the values of freedom, democracy and respect for international institutions, laws and treaties. 

And the United States has seen as never before the golden opportunity to lead this new world order after several decades in which it has stumbled significantly as a clear sign of a fatigue that has taken its toll on its relations with various countries and has left room for China, above all to reach Latin America, Africa and many Asian countries with its investments.

NATO has been revived by fear of Putin and must now show muscle in the face of a satrap who uses the same old American tactics used in his invasions of other countries under various pretexts. Putin is only a mirror image of the imperialist outrages of the American Union in the 20th century and until recently in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

Both have been driven by economic interests because this invasion of Ukraine has a deep economic and strategic motivation such as controlling the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. And to seize lithium reserves, manage grain, nuclear power plants and all the pipelines, gas and oil pipelines in the guts of Ukraine.

On the spot

From this invasion, which we do not know how it will end, how it will end: whether or not there will be a negotiation agreement between Putin and Zelenski or whether it will end with a nuclear bomb, of course another world order will emerge. And a stronger NATO 2.0, with expanded capabilities and more member states.

At this extraordinary NATO meeting, Zelenski participated via telematic means and warned once again that if Russia is not stopped, Europe will follow after Ukraine. 

It is clear to me the secrecy of the sensitive intelligence information analysed and shared by the allies at NATO headquarters in Brussels. Hence the posture adopted.

The Allies expect the worst: the worst outcome. They continue to send military forces to Eastern Europe. Four more battalions have been approved for Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. There are already 100,000 US troops and 40,000 NATO troops.

NATO endorsed its open-door policy and called on China to join Western pressure on Russia to lay down its arms, while advising Beijing to help bring the conflict to a peaceful end and asking Xi Jinping's government not to finance Putin's war with economic or military aid. 

The Alliance agreed to step up aid to Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are in the same situation as Ukraine, are not NATO members and have become vulnerable in recent weeks. 

For several days now, President Biden himself has insisted on the possibility of Russia using chemical or biological weapons against the Ukrainian population under the Kremlin's pretext of finding American laboratories on Ukrainian soil. Yesterday, Biden at NATO said that if Russian troops carry out such an attack they will be forced to respond.

Even the CIA itself does not know what the critical point is for Putin in his ongoing occupation, his red lines between the number of casualties and the number of days of siege, plus the cascade of sanctions against him imposed by the West to exert pressure to force a military eviction. No one knows what the deadline is and what Putin's real intentions towards Ukraine are as he plays a game of confusion. But NATO will prevail...