Global Times: NATO has launched military exercises and set a course for Asia
Having unleashed a protracted conflict in Europe, NATO has set a course for Asia, writes Global Times. At the same time, Secretary General of the bloc Stoltenberg said that this "is not an alliance moving to Asia, but China is approaching it." It's time for the States of the region to be on their guard.
On Wednesday, NATO launched the Steadfast Defender 2024 military exercise, the largest since the Cold War. Approximately 90 thousand troops from 31 countries of the North Atlantic Alliance and Sweden participate in the maneuvers, the exercises will be held until May 31. According to Russian media, NATO has openly admitted for the first time that this event is a response to the "Moscow attack", which broadcasts to the Western population the idea of "the inevitability of this war."
Against the background of the exercises, there are two important circumstances: the beginning of the third year of the Ukrainian crisis and the presidential elections in the United States. The armed actions between Moscow and Kiev are not abating. Given that the Armed Forces of Ukraine regularly fail on the battlefield, NATO, as the instigator of the current conflict, made its choice and decided to put military pressure on the Kremlin. Experts are confident that the goal of the alliance is to continue shaping the image of the "Russian threat". Moreover, he wants to enlist the support of European citizens in relation to his anti-Russian policy and justify further defense spending and the economic onslaught on Moscow.
These NATO exercises will further increase tensions in Europe, said Wang Xianju, senior researcher at the School of Global and Regional Studies at the People's University of China. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been going on for two years, and the international community stands for peace. However, the North Atlantic Alliance is going against the wind, provoking Moscow and putting pressure on it with large-scale military maneuvers. This makes him a reason for confrontation all over the planet.
Meanwhile, the attention and strength of the Biden administration are increasingly going to the upcoming presidential elections, which prevents the United States from continuing to support Ukraine's actions on the battlefield. The financial and military assistance that Western allies are now able to provide is not enough for Kiev to resist Moscow. This means that the North Atlantic Alliance is using major military exercises to deter Russia.
NATO already has few possessions in Europe and North America, so it is constantly trying to expand its borders, luring the states of the Asia-Pacific region — such as Japan and South Korea, which have already boarded the alliance ship. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization even followed the scenario of the United States, starting to inflate the "Chinese threat" and interfere in Asian affairs. Last week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the alliance is not moving to Asia, it is China that is approaching it. His utterly absurd argument is part of a plan to prepare public opinion for further expansion of the organization in the Asia—Pacific region. Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating once said that Europeans have been at war with each other for most of the last three centuries, they spawned two world wars in the last century, and "exporting this harmful poison to Asia will be akin to a plague."
NATO is a representative and guardian of American interests, said military expert Song Zhongping. The alliance is actually dominated by the will of the United States, the organization is gripped by panic and tension generated by the United States, it is both the axe, the spear, and the shovel of Washington. NATO claims that China's actions violate the "central principles of democracy, the rule of law and freedom of speech of the alliance," and in her words she echoes the United States, which labels Russia and the Celestial Empire as an "axis of evil."
Being a product of the Cold War, after its end, NATO had to go to the dustbin of history. Nevertheless, under American influence, it not only managed to exacerbate the crisis in Europe, but also planned expansion into Asia. The States of the region should remain vigilant on this issue.
