By Alan Caruba
What I know about NATO, the North American Treaty Organization, you could put in a bug’s ear. Well, that’s not quite true. I do know the treaty was signed April 4, 1949. It was the result of Cold War fears that the Soviet Union represented a military threat to Europe.
A commentary by E. Wayne Merry that appeared in The Journal of International Security Affairs, “An Obsolete Alliance”, caught my eye. The author is a former State Department and Pentagon official who is now a Senior Associate of the American Foreign Policy Council.
Merry posed a question that had buzzed around in the back of my brain for a long time. Why is the United States still a member of NATO, an alliance that initially was intended to exist for twenty years, but whose life and mission has been expanding now for nearly sixty years? Since the Soviet Union collapsed in the 1990s and the Cold War is over, why does the U.S. or Europe need NATO?
“Over the years, NATO has turned its back on its inherently defensive and conservative origins to become a shameless hustler after engagements to justify its own perpetuation,” writes Merry. He quotes Manfred Woerner, its Secretary General in the early 1990s, who said that in order to survive NATO “must go out of area or go out of business.”
NATO was established by the Treaty of Washington and Merry points out that it was “purely defensive; nothing in it can legitimize use of force other than in response to a direct attack against its members. Article V, contrary to popular myth, does not even commit its members to the use of force.” As such, “NATO lost its basic raison d’etre years ago, as Europe’s need for American troops ended long before the Cold War did.”
Thus, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO was left without a threat or a legitimate purpose. Merry correctly reminds us that “It is axiomatic that nothing in government is so long lasting as temporary measures. Policies, programs and appropriations initiated to respond to a transitory issue take on lives of their own, spawning institutions which not only outlive their purpose, but themselves create new problems to justify their continued existence.”
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Posted by Walt as NATO, Regionalism at 12:27 PM EST
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By Alan Caruba
Recently I emailed a gentleman who is highly regarded, nationally and internationally, as one of the top strategic, military and economic long-range thinkers of our times. He is the author of several bestselling books about the way globalization is impacting the lives of the Earth’s population.
In addition to having read his books and magazine articles, I occasionally visit his blog to read what he is thinking about currently. I noticed that he was casually referencing “global warming” in a post, so I emailed to let him know that there is no scientific proof or basis for the endless global warming claims. I cited all the usual data that disputes it and I provided the URLs of several websites that could provide him with even more.
His response was quite revealing. “It doesn’t matter one way or the other. All the same fixes are required for sheer pollution reasons on a global scale given population increase and consumption increase. You’re arguing the past.” He would later post that, so far as the data debunking global warming, he was “beyond caring.”
As I interpret this, no matter how utterly false the justifications are for the global warming hoax given by Al Gore, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and others, leading to efforts to replace, slow or deter the use of energy sources such as coal, natural gas and oil, this particular influential intellectual was beyond caring because the world’s population was responsible for pollution and consuming too much of everything.
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Posted by Walt as Environment Issues, Junk Science, Regionalism at 9:23 PM EDT
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By recognizing an independent Kosovo the U.S. is playing a dangerous game in the Balkans, one that has led to war in the past and could lead to war in the near future. The independence of Kosovo was engineered by the UN.
Russia's ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, has warned that Russia could use military force if the Kosovo independence dispute escalates.
"If the EU develops a unified position or if NATO exceeds its mandate set by the UN, then these organizations will be in conflict with the UN," he said.
In that case Russia would "proceed on the basis that in order to be respected we need to use brute force", he said.
Many EU members have recognized Kosovo, but several oppose recognition.
Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, backs Serbia, which has condemned the independence declaration issued by the Kosovo parliament on 17 February. (Source: BBC News)
Posted by Walt as Regionalism, War & Peace at 12:56 AM EST
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Tell Congress SPP power grab sets stage for U.N. to manage Domestic Emergencies.
Alert: The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America summit in Canada released a plan that established U.N. law along with regulations by the World Trade Organization and World Health Organization as supreme over U.S. law and set the stage for militarizing the management of continental health emergencies.
The "North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza" was finalized at the SPP summit last week in Montebello, Quebec.
At the same time, the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, has created a webpage dedicated to avian flu and has been running exercises in preparation for the possible use of U.S. military forces in a continental domestic emergency involving avian flu or pandemic influenza.
With virtually no media attention, in 2005 President Bush shifted U.S. policy on avian flu and pandemic influenza, placing the country under international guidelines not specifically determined by domestic agencies.
The policy shift was formalized Sept. 14, 2005, when Bush announced a new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza to a High-Level Plenary Meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, in New York.
The new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza was designed to supersede an earlier November 2005 Homeland Security report that called for a U.S. national strategy that would be coordinated by the Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Agriculture.
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Posted by Walt as Anti-US, Regionalism at 10:33 PM EDT
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“Recommendation Dangerous for Global Security,
Counter-terrorism, and Human Rights Efforts”
Washington, D.C. – United Nations envoy, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, today released his proposal for the future of Kosovo. The proposal, as one anonymous Western diplomat stated, "amounts to ‘independence, subject to international supervision.’" The major points of the plan include:
• No reference to Serbian sovereignty or independence for Kosovo;
• Blocking Kosovo from joining Albania, or having its Serb areas split off and join Serbia;
• Giving Kosovo right to use national symbols including flag and anthem;
• Giving Kosovo right to join international organizations such as UN and IMF;
• Creating international envoy mandated by UN and EU with power to intervene in government;
• Retaining NATO and EU forces in military and policing roles;
• Protecting non-Albanian minority with guaranteed roles in government, police and civil service;
• Protecting Serbian Orthodox Church sites and Serbian language.
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Posted by Walt as Regionalism, Terrorism at 10:57 PM EST
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The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) is a Regional Organization that is encouraged by Article 52 of the UN Charter. These regional organizations lead to the melting of sovereign boarders of the participating countries. Another reason to get the U.S. out of the UN!
In another one of my blogs, www.walterdimmock.com, I have two posts dealing with the SSP in which the main goal is to unite Mexico, United States, and Canada as one North America Community. This will abolish our boarders, and we will lose our National identity as citizens of the United States.
Border security is arguably the critical issue in this country’s fight against radical Islamist terrorism. But our borders remain porous. So porous that three million illegal aliens entered this country last year, nearly all of them from Mexico.
Now, incredibly, a panel sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations wants the United States to focus not on the defense of our own borders, but rather create what effectively would be a common border that includes Mexico and Canada. LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR
Is this the beginning of the end of the United States of America?
On Capitol Hill, testimony calling for Americans to start thinking like citizens of North America and treat the U.S., Mexico and Canada like one big country. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT
This SSP regional organization is modeled after the European Union. But even the members of the EU are not happy with the arrangement.
The idea here is to make North America more like the European Union. Yet, just this week, voters in two major countries in the European Union voted against upgrading — updating the European constitution. So clearly, this is not the best week to be trying to sell that idea. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT
America, wake up and read the US Constitution! Our national leaders are clearly leading our country toward a socialist state.
Posted by Walt as Regionalism at 1:12 AM EDT
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