Wednesday, September 3, 2014

How to make NATO relevant again

Does Russia have the right to defend itself? Does ISIL have the right to defend itself? Do the Taliban have the right to defend themselves? Does al-Qaeda have the right to defend itself? Well, if Israel has the right to defend itself by committing murder and mayhem, so do all the other entities.

And if NATO wants to make itself relevant again, it will have to adhere to a principle that applies universally; one that says no more nonsense in this world, rather than adhere to a principle that applies selectively by blind dogma such as to say: Humans are naturally evil and must be deterred but Israel is saintly and can do no wrong.

On this day, September 3, 2014, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal wrote an editorial each on the upcoming 65th NATO summit meeting during which time the future role of that organization will be discussed in earnest. The New York Times editorial came under the title: “NATO's Urgent Challenges.” That of the Wall Street Journal came under the title: “Deterring a European War” and the subtitle: “Putin wants to break NATO, and his next move may be against the Baltic States.”

The editors of the Times begin by saying that “President Vladimir Putin of Russia has set the agenda for NATO's summit meeting, which could be the most consequential since the Cold War ended.” On their part, the editors of the Journal begin by saying that “the NATO summit is being billed as one of the most important, with good reason. The alliance needs to prove it is serious about deterring another major war in Europe.”

The editors of the Times say that as NATO's role in Afghanistan winds down, the effective invasion of Ukraine by Mr. Putin has given the organization a new and urgent purpose; that of standing up to Putin's “utter disregard for the international system.” And they question if NATO is up to the challenge of pushing back against his expansionist tendencies, if only to reassure the Eastern European countries that feel threatened.

The editors mention the proposed “rapid-reaction force of 4,000 troops” that will be given the task of protecting the NATO members from external aggression. And they go on to say this: “The world will also be looking to NATO for leadership on dealing with the Sunni extremists, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.”

As to the editors of the Journal, they complain that “the European Union has refused to impose serious sanctions in response to Russia's attack on Ukraine.” They go on: “Obama is busy downplaying the threats to world order by saying that 'the world has always been messy.'” They welcome his upcoming visit to Estonia, calling it a more realistic political statement because that could be where Putin strikes next. And they suggest that “the way to deter such military aggression is with a show of comparable military and political resolve.”

The question to ask now is this: “Will any of that do the job of deterring aggression and securing peace in Europe or the world? The fact is that the world has come to view the so-called democracies as a protection racket made of old colonial powers which now regret their past, and a clumsy would-be colonial power called America that is governed not by the elected representatives of its people but the Jewish autocrats who reside everywhere in the world, especially in Israel.

And the way that the Journal editors end their piece will only serve to reinforce that view. Here it is: “The temptation of democracies is to believe that autocrats treasure peace … Europeans want to believe that their postwar institutions have ended their violent history. But autocrats prosper from disorder, and need foreign enemies to feed domestic nationalism.” They go on: “This describes Russia under Mr. Putin, who is Europe's New Bonaparte.”

This is humbug and they know it. What they did was to look at Israel whose job from inception has been to spread disorder in the region, and whose fake Jewish nationalism has been fed by the creation of an ever expanding network of enemies. And that is where the editors of the Journal found what they wanted. It was not only a Bonaparte-like Netanyahu but also a Mussolini-like bunch of clowns surrounding him.

If NATO wants to become relevant again, it must address not only the threat of the Islamic State (IS) but also that of the Jewish State (JS). The warning to Israel should be: Get out of Palestine right now or we bomb your command and control installations.