The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), consisting of 32 countries of Europe and the United States and Canada, held their 75th summit in Washington DC on July 9-11. The deliberations at the Summit were primarily concerned with the war in Ukraine and with showing support for Ukraine against Russia. The massacre of Palestinians in Gaza being carried out by Israel with the backing of the US and other NATO members got no mention in the 38 point communique.
NATO was formed at the start of the Cold War on the initiative of the US to confront the Soviet Union and to cement the Western European states under the banner of US imperialism which had become the dominant imperialist power at the end of World War II. It played a major role in the proliferation of nuclear weapons and in keeping up tensions in the world in the name of ‘fighting communism’. But, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact in 1991, NATO was not folded up. Recognising its importance in supporting its hegemonic agenda not just in Europe but all over the world, NATO has steadily expanded its membership eastwards in Europe, coming right up to the borders of Russia. Today it has 32 members, instead of the 16 at the end of the Cold War. It has also enrolled “partner” states all over the world, including in Asia, Latin America and Australia.
Nevertheless, US imperialism has felt the need to tighten its grip on NATO in the face of some challenges from some of the stronger powers in Europe like France and Germany. By instigating the overthrow of the elected leader of Ukraine in 2014 and manoeuvring to install the rabidly pro-US Zelensky there, and then holding out the prospect of Ukraine being admitted to NATO, the US and NATO deliberately provoked Russia which shares a long border and history with Ukraine. Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine has given US imperialism the stick it needed to rally all forces in Europe under the banner of NATO. Under the Biden government in particular, NATO has been pushed to play a greater role in arming Ukraine, obstructing peace efforts that were developing in the early months, and prolonging the conflict there.
In the Washington Summit, Biden and the US made NATO members commit to more support for Ukraine. This included more than $43 billion in additional military aid, more strategic air defence systems, and F-16 fighter bombers. The US announced it would deploy long-range missiles in Germany, such as the Tomahawk cruise missiles and the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapons (LRHW) that can hit important population centres in Russia, such as Moscow and St Petersburg.
Whereas Zelensky lobbied for Ukraine’s NATO membership, it was made clear that this would not be realised as long as the war continued (since the other NATO members would be forced to commit much more arms and troops if a fellow NATO member were under attack). Instead, it was promised, without specifying any timeline, that Ukraine was on an “irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership”.
For the first time, the US succeeded in getting a NATO declaration to condemn China by name. It was condemned for being a “decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine”, along with Iran and North Korea. This clearly shows how, despite the reservations that some European powers have of being drawn into the US’ rivalry with China, they have felt compelled to change their stance.
From its inception, NATO has been a weapon in the hands of US imperialism to realise its agenda of complete world domination. The end of the Cold War has only made US imperialism and NATO more greedy for absolute power and more aggressive. All countries and peoples who value peace and security, and the freedom of all nations to chart their own course must strongly condemn NATO as an enemy of mankind.