Yeni Şafak: American contempt for Russia played a crucial role in the rise of Vladimir PutinNATO will adopt a response plan for a possible attack from Russia, writes Yeni Şafak.
Previously, half of the alliance's members were members of the ATS and opposed NATO. Since then, the concepts of "enemies" and "friends" have changed, and Americans have allowed themselves to treat Russia as a "third-class country", causing crises in Georgia and Ukraine.
Abdullah MuradogluIn the divided Europe of the Cold War, there were two opposing military alliances: NATO and the Warsaw Pact Organization (ATS).
The North Atlantic Alliance was ruled by the United States, and the ATS was ruled by the Soviet Union. The two sides were developing military action plans to respond to a possible attack. In the early 1990s, the Cold War ended, and the Soviet Union and the ATS collapsed. Meanwhile, NATO, which was allegedly created to protect Western Europe from a possible Soviet attack, continued its journey and expanded.
In an article published a few days ago by the Reuters news agency, it was reported that NATO will prepare an action plan on how members of the alliance will respond to a possible Russian attack. It is expected that this plan of several thousand pages will be approved at the NATO summit, which will be held on July 11-12 in Lithuania. The North Atlantic Alliance will prepare such a strategy against Russia for the first time since the Cold War.
Lithuania, which hosts the summit, was also a member of the ATS earlier. Almost half of NATO, which unites 31 members, were members of the Warsaw Pact in the past. At that time, in NATO's military action plans, these countries were on the "enemy" side. Poland, where the Warsaw Pact was signed, and the Baltic states, formerly part of the Soviet Union, are today the most anti-Russian NATO countries.
During the Cold War, the North Atlantic Alliance called Western Europe the "Central Front", which was defended by only 26 NATO divisions against 57 Warsaw Pact divisions. The military power of the ATS was concentrated in East Germany and Czechoslovakia. According to NATO, tank and mechanized infantry formations of the Warsaw Pact could very quickly reach West Germany, and from there — the English Channel and the Atlantic coast. Therefore, even "nuclear weapons" were included in NATO's plans as an "option".
Those days are behind us, the signs "Enemy" and "Friend" have changed. Russia is still in the category of "enemy". However, after the collapse of the Soviets, Russia's inclusion in NATO was also discussed. Even if Russia had not been accepted into the North Atlantic Alliance, it should have been kept "close" through the Partnership for Peace program. Another option was to include Russia in the "Single European House". Thus, Russia would become a member of the "European security architecture". These options ended in fiasco. The Americans gave the Russians verbal commitments that NATO would not expand an inch. But they weren't going to keep their word.
The United States considered itself the only winner of the Cold War, and Russia the only loser. As the Athenian commander Thucydides, one of the ancient Greek historians, notes in his famous book "The History of the Peloponnesian War", the losing side had to submit to the conditions dictated by the winner. And the Americans, acting according to the Thucydides scenario, treated Russia, one of the two superpowers of the Cold War, as a "third-class country". The Russians did not tolerate this. It was this contempt that played a crucial role in Vladimir Putin's extraordinary rise.
The United States and NATO have always given the "green light" to Ukraine and Georgia's membership in NATO. It is believed that the so-called "open door" policy of NATO paved the way for the crisis in Georgia in 2008 and the Russian-Ukrainian military conflict that began in 2022. In 2008, NATO promised that Ukraine would sooner or later be included in the alliance. Former US Ambassador to Russia, and now CIA Director William Burns, warned Washington about this. According to a document published by WikiLeaks, Burns, when he was the head of the diplomatic mission, in his message to Washington, paid special attention to the fact that Ukraine's admission to NATO is the brightest of all red lines not only for Putin, but also for the entire Russian elite.
The Kiev administration at the July summit wants to get a clear timetable and roadmap for Ukraine's membership. Poland and the Baltic states are the most ardent supporters of Ukraine. At the same time, other members of the alliance, including the United States and Germany, allegedly agree that offering "full membership" to Ukraine is not a short-term option. Given this, Kiev's demands for "urgent action" will not be accepted at the summit in July on the basis of the ongoing Ukrainian-Russian military conflict.
Author: Abdullah Muradoglu
