Western Doublethink on Blind Path to War

The US-led NATO alliance this week announced that it intends consolidating its military presence in Eastern Europe, the Black Sea and the Baltic states. Ahead of a NATO summit in Wales, NATO secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen has called for the setting up of «reactive battalions» along Russia’s border. The contingency would include the eventual placement of ballistic missiles and it builds on recent dispatches of NATO warships and fighter aircraft in the region. 

Moscow, in response, said it is now revising its defense doctrine to take reciprocal measures to protect its territory. «When NATO troops are approaching our borders, of course, we develop a plan. I recall NATO’s commitment not to expand the bloc’s territory eastward», said Russian Public Chamber deputy secretary Sergei Ordzhonikidze.

That referred commitment of no NATO eastwards expansion was given by American leaders to Russian counterparts throughout the 1990s following the demise of the Soviet Union. Yet what has happened over the past two decades is the exact opposite – the relentless encroachment of NATO military along Russia’s borders. The conflict in Ukraine over the past year has served to provide Washington with a tenuous rationale for escalating NATO contingencies in the region on the back of unfounded claims about Russia’s invasion and annexation of Ukrainian territory. 

Economic sanctions imposed by Washington and its European allies – the latest round announced this week – are applied with the same reckless abandon as NATO build-up. No concrete evidence of alleged Russian malfeasance in Ukraine is produced to validate sanctions or NATO battle plans. It is all done as a fait accompli on the basis of assertion. US President Barack Obama says Russian military intervention in Ukraine is «plain to see» while not presenting a shred of credible evidence.

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