November 28, 2008, 21:45 NATO goes bankrupt
A short follow-up to my "The great NATO retreat” post: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called off the dogs. The US will not push a MAP (Membership Action Plan) for Georgia and Ukraine at next week’s NATO meeting in Brussels. The out-going Bush administration is bowing and leaving office with its tail between its legs. It leaves with ZERO foreign policy successes – NATO expansion was the last straw to secure a legacy. NATO is all about mutual self-defense and many members like France, Germany, Italy, and Spain refuse to see Georgia and Ukraine as adding to NATO’s security. Right they are – both post-Soviet republics are huge security liabilities for the listless post-Cold War alliance. As I suspected and wrote, NATO is climbing down, but that doesn’t mean anyone should count NATO out. Now NATO has a number of options: “Go small” There are many NATO members who believe the defense of Europe should be the alliance’s new mission. Going small would limit US involvement and completely stop expansion. In theory, this is the most pragmatic approach. As things stand now, NATO can’t be Washington’s lapdog to intervene in places like Afghanistan. NATO does not have the resources or the political will to be Washington's “cover” policeman. “Go global” The choice of going global is still on the cards, but this means entering into many and possibly endless wars to become a mini-UN with guns and without political legitimacy. My hunch is Brussels bosses would really like to go down this track. After all, NATO is a wonderful taxpayer’s trough – lots of money and no responsibility or accountability. “Go behind the lines” Just because Ukraine and Georgia will not be granted a MAP doesn’t mean NATO has given up on either. NATO may abandon the MAP idea and invent a new one. NATO is desperate to survive. It has broken its own rules before, so why wouldn’t it do so again? When Rice climbed down she said there were other ways to grant new memberships into the alliance. What does that mean? I sense more duplicity and hypocrisy. “Go down” Since the end of the Cold War NATO has had a hard time proving it should exist. In my not so humble opinion it should simply close up shop. It is not doing anything good in the world. And what it is doing is going nowhere. http://www.russiatoday.com/employee/27
