Posted on 07/16/2014 2:34:33 AM PDT by Olog-hai
NATO announced earlier this July that it is shelving plans to welcome any new members during its forthcoming Wales summit.
The hopes of four countries—Bosnia, Macedonia, Georgia and Montenegro, which were expecting to deepen their cooperation with NATO—are now all but dashed, as senior NATO officials have hit the pause button on future enlargement.
Just like the European Union, it seems that NATO is also suffering from enlargement fatigue. Unlike the Union though, NATO is shying away from even awarding the equivalent of the EU’s association agreement, namely the Membership Action Plan (MAP), to Georgia, over fears of provoking Moscow’s ire.
For all the aggressive rhetoric deployed during the Ukraine crisis, NATO seems to refuse to walk the walk. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, its outgoing secretary general, said recently that Russia is no longer a reliable partner for the West. But apparently, nor is the West for its allies most exposed to Russia’s whims. …
(Excerpt) Read more at euobserver.com ...
Excellent move. New entrants should be required to show that they bring something to the table. A minimum of 200 4th generation fighter aircraft would be a good start, combined with at least 250 tanks and 1000 armored vehicles each. Too many new NATO members have been welfare cases.
Is not NATO an anachronism, a relic of a past that is no longer relevant?
R.I.P. NATO!
An overinflated balloon is easily popped.
Especially now, since Russia is no longer threatening, pushing-around, or occupying its neighbors.
I’m sure Putin thinks it’s an excellent move. A weaker NATO makes his ambitions much easier.
He already knows that NATO is incapable and unwilling to interfere with him militarily or politically. What would adding these four countries to to change that?
Probably not incapable, but certainly unwilling. That means someone is pulling the strings behind the scenes at NATO telling them to not interfere with Russia.
I think they jumped the shark in Libya.
Adding welfare cases makes NATO weaker. The combination of expanded obligations and additional votes in an organization that requires unanimity is turning NATO into an expensive bull session rather than an alliance with teeth. They need to get their act together, militarily, before we should consider admitting them. If they won't or can't do so, maybe they aren't cut out to be independent nations. There is a reason they remained a part of the Russian empire, whereas Poland and Finland drove the Russians out.
There’s no evidence for the “welfare cases” hypothesis. And judging any nation state to not be “cut out to be independent nations” is a excuse/justification for imperialism—not that the European Union’s imperialism is any better, but NATO is supposed to be the USA’s baby, not the EU’s.
Have you looked at the TOE's of the nations that want to join? They are a shambles militarily. The Baltic states that are recent members of NATO are an even worse shambles. Estonia has no fixed wing combat aircraft, not even ground attack planes like the SU-25 (operated by Georgia). New NATO members immediately ditch their expensive defense establishments after joining. Why pay for an effective military when Uncle Sam has your back?
That does not mark them as “welfare cases”. Especially in light of your open calling for them to be reabsorbed by the New USSR aka the Eurasian Union. The new imperialism will lead down a very dark road.
But healthy criticism of what NATO has become is another thing, It should be fixed immediately, starting from things like “spend at least 2.5% of GDP on the military or f. out”, there are countries in it, which are totally not interested in defense issues, such as Belgium and others, which follow “either America helps us or we're doomed anyway” logic like majority of post cold war new member states. So in result NATO is a totally impotent and ineffective political club, UN 2.0. It must be fixed immediately or shut down - better that than giving false security guarantees.
That's a trick to keep any NATO permanent presence in the Baltics as others are doing then air policing duties... but overall you are right, they should be buying a damn load of anti-tank missiles, MANPADS etc. they have some but far not enough.
“Adding welfare cases makes NATO weaker. The combination of expanded obligations and additional votes in an organization that requires unanimity is turning NATO into an expensive bull session rather than an alliance with teeth.”
Exactly.
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