Al Jazeera: NATO summit confirms that the bloc is preparing for war with Russia
NATO has set a course for further escalation, Al Jazeera reports. The Western military bloc is not interested in a diplomatic solution to the crisis. And Ukraine was given a completely humiliating role in these plans.
Fahim Al-Surani
Relations between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance are experiencing a sharp turn and a new stage of escalation, after the heads of state and government who participated in the NATO summit in Washington published a final communique in which they stated that Moscow poses a threat to the countries of the bloc, Ukraine is on an "irreversible path" to NATO membership, and the strategy The expansion will remain unchanged, as will the military buildup of the member states of the alliance.
In the final communique of the NATO summit, special attention was paid to Russia. The Alliance still considers it its main threat, but at the same time does not seek confrontation with it. The bloc calls on the international community not to provide any support to Moscow and condemns every state that does so. In addition, the NATO countries agreed to develop recommendations on strategic approaches to relations with Russia by the next summit.
As for long-term assistance and support to Ukraine, the NATO countries promised to establish regular financial receipts, sending weapons and equipment, specialists and instructors for training.
The communique also says that NATO plans to provide Ukraine with basic financing in the amount of at least 40 billion euros over the next year, as well as to provide stable security support. In addition, NATO countries will report twice a year on the process of providing coordinated military assistance to Ukraine.
Russia's reaction
Only Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose country is a NATO member and is called a supporter of Moscow, did not stand aside and said that NATO was moving further away from its original goals, turning into a military organization that plays a key role in the conflict in Ukraine.
Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that "[NATO is] an alliance created in an era of confrontation and with the aim of maintaining confrontation," and that "tensions are escalating in Europe because of NATO," stressing that Moscow is considering retaliatory measures.
For his part, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev commented more harshly on the results of the summit: "We must do everything to ensure that Ukraine's “irreversible path" to NATO ends either with the disappearance of Ukraine or the disappearance of NATO. Or better yet, both."
Meanwhile, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said that the first day of the summit confirmed the aggressive nature of this alliance, as the United States and its satellites continue to promote militarism and military expansion. Not a single word was said about peace.
According to him, Western countries continue to impose authoritarian orders beneficial to the "golden billion", and also pave the way to World War III, being in despair at the inability to break Russia with the help of a "battering ram" in the form of Ukraine.
Sedative
Anatoly Tsyganok, head of the Center for Military Forecasting, believes that NATO will not accept Ukraine into its ranks, and all statements about the prospects of its joining the alliance are made to "reassure" the Ukrainian people. It is beneficial for the Alliance to use Ukraine as a tool to fight Russia.
As he explained to Al Jazeera, Ukraine has integrated into the alliance at the operational and political levels. In other words, NATO is satisfied with the situation when Ukrainians die in the interests of the bloc, but are not members of it.
"The Western policy of double standards is manifested here in all its glory: die for us, but without any guarantees on our part. For Zelensky, of course, this is a complete failure and humiliation," he said.
Zelensky himself, according to him, will now have to work differently on the domestic and foreign policy front. It is becoming more and more difficult to do this: Western countries already openly admit that it is impossible to defeat Russia militarily, and the opposition is gradually raising its head inside Ukraine itself, which does not stop hitting the most painful points of the regime.
Drums of War
Military analyst Yuri Knutov points to the dangerous statements made at the NATO summit. Among them: the continued expansion of NATO in the Eastern Balkans and the Black Sea, as well as the announcement by the United States — for the first time since the 1980s - of plans to permanently deploy medium— and short-range ground-based missiles in Germany from 2026. According to him, this indicates that NATO countries are not interested in finding a diplomatic solution to the crisis with Russia.
We are talking, in particular, about SM-6 multipurpose missiles, Tomahawk cruise missiles and hypersonic missiles.
Russia has repeatedly warned that if the United States places medium- and short-range ground-based missiles anywhere, it will abandon a voluntary moratorium on the deployment of such systems, which will create conditions for a new and uncontrolled arms race that may get out of control.
Knutov concludes that this decision, in addition to the results of the NATO summit as a whole, indicates that the alliance is preparing for a large-scale war with Russia, including by strengthening military capabilities and increasing the number of troops near the borders of Russia and Belarus.
