Sin asunto

marketing military hardware is vastly outweighed by the disastrous
political consequences of Sarkozy=E2=80=99s act of allegiance.

It is true that even outside the NATO integrated command, France=E2=80=99s
independence was only relative.

France followed the United States into the first Gulf War =E2=80=93 Preside=
nt
Fran=C3=A7ois Mitterrand vainly hoped thereby to gain influence in
Washington, the usual mirage that beckons allies into dubious U.S.
operations. France joined the 1999 NATO war against Yugoslavia,
despite misgivings at the highest levels. But in 2003, President
Jacques Chirac and his foreign minister Dominique de Villepin actually
made use of their independence by rejecting the invasion of Iraq. It
is generally acknowledged that the French stand enabled Germany to do
the same. Belgium followed.

Villepin=E2=80=99s February 14, 2003, speech to the UN Security Council giv=
ing
priority to disarmament and peace over war won a rare standing
ovation. The Villepin speech was hugely popular around the world, and
greatly enhanced French prestige, especially in the Arab world. But
back in Paris, the personal hatred between Sarkozy and Villepin has
reached operatic heights of passion, and one can suspect that
Sarkozy=E2=80=99s return to NATO obedience is also an act of personal reven=
ge.

The worst political effect is much broader. The impression is now
created that =E2=80=9Cthe West=E2=80=9D, Europe and North America, are barr=
icading
themselves by a military alliance against the rest of the world.

In retrospect, the French dissent accomplished a service to the whole
West by giving the impression, or the illusion, that independent
thought and action were still possible, and that someone in Europe
might listen to what other parts of the world thought and said.

Now, this =E2=80=9Cclosing of ranks=E2=80=9D, hailed by the NATO champions =
as
=E2=80=9Cimproving our security=E2=80=9D, will sound the alarms in the rest=
 of the
world.

The empire seems to be closing its ranks in order to rule the world.

The United States and its allies do not openly claim to rule the
world, only to regulate it. The West controls the world=E2=80=99s financial
institutions, the IMF and the World Bank.

It controls the judiciary, the International Criminal Court, which in
six years of existence has put on trial only one obscure Congolese
warlord and brought charges against 12 other persons, all of them
Africans =E2=80=93 while meanwhile the United States causes the deaths of
hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of people in Iraq and
Afghanistan and supports Israel=E2=80=99s ongoing aggression against the
Palestinian people.

To the rest of the world, NATO is just the armed branch of this
enterprise of domination. And this at a time when the
Western-dominated system of financial capitalism is bringing the world
economy to collapse.

This gesture of =E2=80=9Cshowing Western unity=E2=80=9D for =E2=80=9Cour se=
curity=E2=80=9D can only
make the rest of the world feel insecure. Meanwhile, NATO moves every
day to surround Russia with military bases and hostile alliances,
notably in Georgia. Despite the smiles over dinner with her Russian
counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, Hillary Clinton repeats the stunning
mantra that =E2=80=9Cspheres of influence are not acceptable=E2=80=9D =E2=
=80=93 meaning, of
course, that the historic Russian sphere of interest is unacceptable,
while the United States is vigorously incorporating it into its own
sphere of influence, called NATO.

Already China and Russia are increasing their defense cooperation. The
economic interests and institutional inertia of NATO are pushing the
world toward a pre-war lineup far more dangerous than the Cold War.

The lesson NATO refuses to learn is that its pursuit of enemies
creates enemies. The war against terrorism fosters terrorism.
Surrounding Russian with missiles proclaimed =E2=80=9Cdefensive=E2=80=9D =
=E2=80=93 when any
strategist knows that a shield accompanied by a sword is also an
offensive weapon =E2=80=93 will create a Russian enemy.

The Search for Threats

To prove to itself that it is really =E2=80=9Cdefensive=E2=80=9D, NATO keep=
s looking
for threats. Well, the world is a troubled place, thanks in large part
to the sort of economic globalization imposed by the United States
over the past decades. This might be the time to be undertaking
diplomatic and political efforts to work out internationally agreed
ways of dealing with such problems as global economic crisis, climate
change, energy use, hackers (=E2=80=9Ccyberwar=E2=80=9D).

NATO think tanks are pouncing on these problems as new =E2=80=9Cthreats=E2=
=80=9D to be
dealt with by NATO. This leads to a militarization of policy-making
where it should be demilitarized.

For example, what can it mean to meet the supposed threat of climate
change with military means? The answer seems obvious: military force
may be used in some way against the populations forced from their
homes by drought or flooding. Perhaps, as in Darfur, drought will lead
to clashes between ethnic or social groups. Then NATO can decide which
is the =E2=80=9Cgood=E2=80=9D side and bomb the others. That sort of thing.

The world indeed appears to be heading into a time of troubles. NATO
appears getting read to deal with these troubles by using armed force
against unruly populations.

This will be evident at NATO=E2=80=99s 60th anniversary celebration in
Strasbourg/Kehl on April 3 and 4.

The cities will be turned into armed camps. Residents of the tranquil
city of Strasbourg are obliged to apply for badges in order to leave
or enter their own homes during the happy event. At crucial times,
they will not be allowed to leave home at all, except under emergency
circumstances. Urban transport will be brought to a standstill. The
cities will be as dead as if they had been bombed, to allow the NATO
dignitaries to put on a show of peace.

The high point is to be a ten-minute photo op when French and German
leaders shake hands on the bridge over the Rhine connected Strasbourg
and Kehl. As if Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy were making peace
between France and Germany for the first time. The locals are to be
locked up so as not to disturb the charade.

NATO will be behaving as though the biggest threat it faces is the
people of Europe. And the biggest threat to the people of Europe may
well be NATO.

Diana Johnstone is author of Fools=E2=80=99 Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO and
Western Delusions (Monthly Review Press).
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
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