{"id":186455,"date":"2019-04-09T07:44:49","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T07:44:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=186455"},"modified":"2019-04-11T06:15:26","modified_gmt":"2019-04-11T06:15:26","slug":"nato-at-70-global-enforcers-of-western-imperialism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=186455","title":{"rendered":"NATO at 70: Global Enforcers of Western Imperialism"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">By Michael Welch, Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya and Andre Vitchek \u2013 Global Research April 7, 2019<\/h1>\n<div id=\"attachment_135987\" style=\"width: 550px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/NATO-Warsaw-summit.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-135987\" class=\"wp-image-135987\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/NATO-Warsaw-summit.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"359\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-135987\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NATO summit Warsaw. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><em>\u201cToday, our Alliance is the strongest in history, guaranteeing the freedom of our almost one billion citizens, the security of our territory, and the protection of our values, including democracy, individual liberty, human rights, and the rule of law.\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Statement issued by the NATO Foreign Ministers, Washington D.C., 3rd-4th April 2019<\/span><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/601464573&amp;color=ff5500\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div align=\"center\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\" align=\"center\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.radio4all.net\/responder.php\/download\/102081\/112120\/124169\/?url=http:\/\/www.radio4all.net\/files\/scottprice666@hotmail.com\/4319-1-GRNH_255_apr_5__2019_.mp3\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\">Click to download the audio (MP3 format)<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Formed in the years immediately following World War II, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), then comprised of Canada, the United States, and ten European powers, was presented to the world as a<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nato.int\/cps\/en\/natohq\/topics_110496.htm\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong> defensive pact<\/strong><\/span>,<\/a> wherein an attack on one member is an attack on all. <strong>The <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/North-Atlantic-Treaty-Organization\">Encyclopedia Britannica<\/a><\/span> explains that NATO was established and conceived as \u201ca counterweight to Soviet armies stationed in central and eastern Europe after World War II.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Today, seventy years after its founding, the Soviet Union is no more. NATO has increased its military involvement in <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nato.int\/cps\/en\/natohq\/topics_52060.htm\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>theatres<\/strong> <\/span><\/a>around the world, including the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, the Mediterranean, and Libya. Many of these missions were framed as \u2018humanitarian interventions\u2019 or disaster relief as opposed to aggression.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">According to the <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sipri.org\/media\/press-release\/2018\/global-military-spending-remains-high-17-trillion\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Stockholm <\/strong><\/span><\/a>International Peace Research Institute (<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sipri.org\/media\/press-release\/2018\/global-military-spending-remains-high-17-trillion\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>SIPRI<\/strong><\/span><\/a>), <strong>NATO powers spent $900 billion USD in 2017 on militarism, accounting for 52 per cent of global military spending.<\/strong> These figures do not, however, account for U.S. spending on actual theatre wars, so-called<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalpriorities.org\/campaigns\/overseas-contingency-operations\/\"> \u2018overseas contingency operations\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/span> in addition to other military related expenditures.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">In an<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.globalresearch.ca\/nato-exit-dismantle-nato-close-down-800-us-military-bases-prosecute-the-war-criminals\/5670610\"> article<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>timed with the 70th anniversary commemorations, <strong>Professor<\/strong> <strong>Michel Chossudovsky\u2019s<\/strong> outlines how, in fact, NATO is the military arm of a hegemonic project to impose an economic restructuring on targeted countries, making them and their resource base rife for exploitation by the Anglo-American capitalist class. He documents the organization\u2019s role in recruiting and financing destabilizing elements in Kosovo, Libya ad Syria among other countries:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">\u201cNATO member states are harnessed into endorsing Washington\u2019s imperial design of World conquest under the doctrine of collective security.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">As NATO foreign Ministers gather in Washington D.C. to toast their contributions to the \u2018peace and security\u2019 of the world, and draw up their plans for the next 70 years, the Global Research News Hour radio program attempts to probe this much more dissenting perspective on the role of NATO and the Euro-Atlantic powers generally, in global affairs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">In the first half hour, we hear from a man who literally wrote the book on NATO. <strong>Mahdi Nazemroaya<\/strong> explains how NATO was conceived to counter left movements in Europe as well as advance its geo-strategic aims on the Eurasian continent. He also explores the U.S.-centric economic imperatives being forged through this bellicose alliance. He also advances an opinion of the recent news that NATO member Turkey will purchase an anti-missile system from Russia rather than purchase the counterpart technology from NATO ally the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">In the second half hour, we look at the NATO anniversary in the context of a history of Western European imperialism and plunder. <strong>Andre Vltchek<\/strong> addresses how imperialism is advanced through not only guns and bombs, but by exploiting ethnic and religious differences. He also examines the pathological dimensions of empire and the distinctions between Western and Sino-Russian involvement in countries like Syria and Venezuela. He also provides his understanding of why the West commands the admiration of those within countries targeted for imperial domination.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><em><a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.globalresearch.ca\/author\/mahdi-darius-nazemroaya\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya<\/span><\/strong><\/a> is an award-winning author and geopolitical analyst, author of <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/store.globalresearch.ca\/store\/the-globalization-of-nato\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>The Globalization of NATO (Clarity Press<\/strong><\/span>)<\/a> and a forthcoming book The War on Libya and the Re-Colonization of Africa. He is a Sociologist and Research Associate at the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), a contributor to the Strategic Culture Foundation (SCF) and a member of the Scientific Committee of Geopolitica, Italy.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.globalresearch.ca\/author\/andre-vltchek\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Andre Vltchek<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/a>is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Three of his latest books are his tribute to\u00a0<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/6027354399\/\">\u201c<\/a><a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/6027354399\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>The Great October Socialist Revolution<\/strong><\/span>\u201d<\/a>\u00a0a revolutionary novel\u00a0<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Aurora-Andre-Vltchek\/dp\/6027354364\/\">\u201c<\/a><a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Aurora-Andre-Vltchek\/dp\/6027354364\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Aurora<\/strong><\/span>\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and a bestselling work of political non-fiction: \u201c<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Exposing-Lies-Empire-Andre-Vltchek\/dp\/6027005866\">Exposing Lies Of The Empire<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u201d. View his other books\u00a0<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"http:\/\/andrevltchek.weebly.com\/books.html\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>here<\/strong><\/span><\/a>. Watch\u00a0<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/ondemand\/rwandagambit\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Rwanda Gambit<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, his ground-breaking documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo and his film\/dialogue with Noam Chomsky\u00a0<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Western-Terrorism-Hiroshima-Drone-Warfare\/dp\/0745333877\">\u201c<\/a><a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Western-Terrorism-Hiroshima-Drone-Warfare\/dp\/0745333877\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>On Western Terrorism<\/strong><\/span>\u201d<\/a>. <strong>Vltchek<\/strong> presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through his\u00a0<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"http:\/\/andrevltchek.weebly.com\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>website<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\u00a0and his\u00a0<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AndreVltchek\">Twitter<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>(Global Research News Hour episode 255)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<h3><strong>LISTEN TO THE SHOW<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/601464573&amp;color=ff5500\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.globalresearch.ca\/nato-at-70-global-enforcers-of-western-imperialism\/5673781\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although NATO was created in response to the Soviet threat, with the demise of the Soviet Union NATO has only grown in size and ambition  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Current_Affairs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=186455"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":186458,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186455\/revisions\/186458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=186455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=186455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=186455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}