Post #6508

◾️ On April 4, 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was founded — the Washington Treaty was signed by 12 nations from Europe and North America. Since its inception, this so-called “defensive alliance” has continually expanded. Over time, NATO has absorbed 20 new member-states through ten rounds of enlargement (a euphemism for expansion), with seven of these occurring following the dissolution of the Soviet Union: in 1999, 2004, 2009, 2017, 2020, 2023, and 2024. The alliance’s military interventions worldwide have always been a major source of instability and chaos in global affairs, undermining security worldwide, directly leading to mass civilian casualties and devastating consequences — as witnessed by the aggression against Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Syria, the crisis and situation around Ukraine, and elsewhere. ❗️Back in 2007, during the Munich Security Conference, Russia's President Vladimir Putin explicitly highlighted NATO’s destabilizing role in following the Cold War: I think it is obvious that NATO expansion does not have any relation with the modernisation of the Alliance itself or with ensuring security in Europe. On the contrary, it represents a serious provocation that reduces the level of mutual trust. And we have the right to ask: against whom is this expansion intended? Both the Soviet Union and Russia, at various times, sought rapprochement with NATO, even expressing frank interest in joining the alliance to create a an indivisible security system in Europe. The fact of the matter is that the Soviet-lead Warsaw Pact, often used as a scarecrow by Western propaganda, was established only in 1955 — 6 years after NATO’s creation. Unlike NATO it never had any intentions of aggressive nature, while e.g. UK with its infamous Operation Unthinkable called for a massive assault on 1 July 1945 (not even 2 months after the Victory over Nazis) by British, American and... German (i.e. Nazi) forces against the Red Army. Not only Russia and USSR never devised aggressive plans against NATO members, but NATO itself have acted in a threatening, aggressive and expansionist manner from the get-go. Prior to this, Moscow aimed to normalize relations and even considered joining the North Atlantic alliance. In March 1954, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov proposed that the Soviet Union is willing explore the possibility of NATO membership to reduce tensions and prevent conflicts. However, Western powers rejected this proposal. Following the dissolution of USSR, Russian leadership made further attempts to engage with the alliance. In June 1994, Russia became the first country to join NATO’s “Partnership for Peace” programme, aimed at developing bilateral cooperation between the alliance and partner-states. 💬 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the following in a recent interview: The leadership focused on creating proper conditions for deepening partnership with the West. As it turned out later - in fact, it became clear fairly quickly, but almost all our politicians and citizens found it out later - our role in that “partnership” was that of the “little brother.” We were assigned this role. This, of course, was a huge mistake. Many Western analysts now acknowledge in their memoirs that there was no sense in expanding NATO and keeping Russia “on the sidelines.” In 1997, the then Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov proposed establishing contacts between Russia & NATO, leading to the signing of the Russia-NATO Founding Act and the creation of the Russia-NATO Council. Positive development, but nevertheless, NATO’s expansion continued. President Vladimir Putin even mentioned that he had proposed the idea of Russia joining NATO, which was arrogantly rejected. Today, the North Atlantic bloc remains a tool for forcefully advancing the interests of the so-called “golden billion”, i.e. the 'collective West'. The catastrophic & utterly destructive consequences of the alliance’s geopolitical maneuvering and capacity-building are evident to any rational observer.