The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed in 1949 as a military alliance against the Soviet Union which occupied Eastern and Central Europe behind what Winston Churchill called the “Iron Curtain.” It was the same year the Soviets detonated their first atomic bomb. The “Western theater of war,” as termed by the Soviets, would eventually result in the presence of 100 divisions facing Western Europe. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, however, the NATO alliance seemed irrelevant. This has proven to be far from true even as NATO embraces the 21st Century “Strategic Concept” which expands the role of the alliance as a global force.
NATO in the Cold War
The Korean War enabled American President Harry Truman to take several extraordinary steps – in keeping with the recommendations of NSC-68, to stop the expansion of Communism. One of those steps included enlarging NATO and rearming Germany. Germany became one of the strongest members of the military alliance, although its Constitution, written, in part, through consultation with the United States, banned the use of German troops for offensive action not connected to national defense. By 1955, Germany became a formal member of NATO even as the Soviet Union was organizing the Warsaw Pact.
The Cuban Missile Crisis, however, fractured NATO unity as Charles de Gaulle broke with the alliance to pursue a solo French defense policy that included a nuclear arsenal. President Kennedy had acted without NATO consultation, playing the game of brinkmanship alone. As Historian Stephen Ambrose writes, “Europe was unwilling to be burned to a cinder because Russia and America disagreed about an island in the Gulf of Mexico.”
NATO and the Nuclear Deterrence
The deployment of U.S. cruise missiles in Europe came as a response to Soviet deployments of SS-20 missiles. Recent research reveals that the Soviets fully anticipated a war that would involve the use of these weapons (Matthias Schulz, Spiegel, April 9, 2010). According the Julian Borger (Guardian, February 22, 2010), several NATO member states are now calling for the removal of U.S. nuclear weapons from Europe. But although the Soviet-era threat has passed, NATO’s role is becoming more global.
Post Cold War NATO Objectives
Following the end of the Cold War and despite assurances to Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not expand into the former Soviet satellite countries in Eastern and Central Europe, the role of NATO was already changing. Newly emerged democracies became part of the alliance. In 1994, at the urging of President Bill Clinton, NATO intervened in Bosnia after the European Union (EU) was unable to solve the crisis. According to Ambrose, NATO’s role in the former Yugoslavia proved that the alliance had, “a viable role in the post Cold War World.”
In the 21st Century, NATO is again realigning objectives to conform to global threats. Writing in the Guardian (March 11, 2009), Benoit d’Aboville states that, “Today’s global threats demand greater European, as well as NATO, solidarity, and the alliance’s successive enlargements mean that most EU members are now NATO members as well.” The EU’s recent inabilities to deal with the Greek debt crisis might further enhance the global role of NATO as changing agendas marginalize the EU.
The Global Role of the NATO Alliance
NATO’s “Strategic Concept” is rooted in global considerations. NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmussen, speaking in Washington, DC on February 23, 2010, referred to a “new division at NATO headquarters to deal with new threats and challenges.” Speaking at Georgetown University the day before, Rasmussen spoke of “deepening our partnerships with countries from across the globe.”
Rick Rozoff (Global Research, February 14, 2010), commenting on the ambitious global goals of NATO, writes that the alliance, “has a broad and expanding network of members and military partners throughout the world.” Any potential military conflict with Iran will most likely include a NATO role. What began as an alliance centered on European collective security, may prove to be the guarantee of European Union survival in the face of global military and economic threats such as the alleged nuclear ambitions of Iran.
References:
- Stephen E. Ambrose and Douglas G. Brinkley, Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938 (Penguin Books, 1997)
- Benoit d’Aboville, “Nato needs a makeover,” Guardian, March 11, 2009
- Rick Rozoff, “NATO’s Role in the Military Encirclement of Iran,” Global Research, February 11, 2010
- Rick Rozoff, “US-NATO ‘Strategic Concept’ – Global Warfare, Global Research, March 16, 2010
- Matthias Schultz, “New Research Sheds Light on Soviet Plans for World War III,” Spiegel Online, April 9, 2010
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