3/30/20, “NATO’s Expansion Continues,” Oriental Review, Leonid Savin
“Although most media outlets, including purely political resources, are currently writing about the coronavirus pandemic, geopolitical processes continue to run their course. It’s just that the amount of information about COVID-19 is somewhat overshadowing a number of events, and some, like the spread of the virus itself, have far-reaching consequences. One of these took place last week. [Balkans map including Macedonia] On 20 March, the president of Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski, signed a document that officially approves the country’s accession to NATO. Despite statements by some experts in previous years that Turkey was blocking Macedonia’s membership, every NATO member ratified the admission of the small Balkan state to their military and political club. The final country on the list was Spain, which gave its approval just a few days before, on 17 March.
Previously, Greece was considered to be the most serious obstacle, having demanded that the country change its name. The country’s new prime minster, Zoran Zaev, who came to power by way of a colour revolution and the support of George Soros,”…
[Which means with Trump’s support as well since Trump retained Obama’s War Industry Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt.…rather than remembering his voters elected him to change things, not to deliver Obama’s third term…“Geoffrey R. Pyatt was the United States ambassador to Ukraine from 2013 to 2016. There he organized, together with Victoria Nuland, the coup d’etat of Euromaidan. [“Yats is the guy.”] In 2016, Barack Obama appointed him [Pyatt] ambassador to Greece, from where he organized a schism within the Orthodox church. Currently [under Trump], its mission is to end the supply of Russian gas to the European Union.”]
(continuing): “willingly agreed to every condition set out by Macedonia’s neighbour. After Macedonia became North Macedonia in 2018, an accession protocol was signed with NATO in February 2019 that guaranteed a change in the country’s military and political status.
[Image: BBC map. “The row [with Greece] has undermined Macedonia’s international ambitions as Greece has long vowed to veto its accession to Nato and the European Union.…It means that Macedonia, which is formally called Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (or Fyrom) at the United Nations, will now become the Republic of North Macedonia, or North Macedonia in short.“] This sequence of events also suggests that the attack on the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party, with intense pressure from EU diplomats, was aimed not at “democratic reforms”, which are rhetorical window dressing for such machinations, but at the elimination of the country’s neutral status and the establishment of a puppet government.
However, Radio Free Europe, the mouthpiece of the US State Department, is openly claiming that Macedonia is being drawn into NATO with US and European help in order to reduce Russian and Chinese influence in the Balkan states. Yet this source of propaganda fails to mention that neither Russia nor China has military bases in the Balkans, and it also does not clarify what their influence consists of.
But now North Macedonia must faithfully pay its contributions to the general budget and, in return, perhaps Brussels will be stricter with instances of Albanian separatism. And perhaps it won’t, because Albania joined NATO a lot earlier – in 2009. In the Balkan states, Serbia is waiting next in line along with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the people and political elite of which are being actively cultivated by EU and NATO emissaries.
But NATO’s efforts don’t stop at the Balkan states. Finland – the northernmost flank of NATO’s future expansion – is extremely important due to the length of the Finland–Russia border and the country’s as yet neutral status. Despite this, NATO is actually already present there because the country is home to the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, which opened in October 2017. The Aleksanteri Institute, based at Helsinki university, and the Russian research group at the National Defence University are also playing their part in the country’s pro-NATO indoctrination.
Judging by official information provided on NATO’s own website, the alliance is also fairly pleased with its extensive cooperation with neutral Sweden – from participating in various operations to numerous joint programmes. The country’s cooperation with NATO has been greatly stepped up in recent years, however.
Both countries are also involved in the NATO Response Force initiative in complementary roles. So, with such obedient partners, Brussels is in no hurry to actively integrate these states into its structure. From time to time, Western media outlets whip up hysteria about the Russian threat in the region, sounding out public opinion about whether campaigns should be stepped up and what adjustments should be made to local anti-Russian propaganda. Articles by an army of biased experts reinforce the strategy, noting the benefits gained by Sweden and Finland from their cooperation with NATO.
But all of this is taking place in an area of traditional geopolitical interests for the US and NATO, in the world formed after World War Two. The situation in other regions is far more interesting.
Following an increase in tensions between the US and Iran in late 2019, there was a discussion about a Middle Eastern version of NATO. However, the idea of an alliance is discussed as regularly as the status of Sweden and Finland in Northern Europe.
In 2018, such an initiative was put forward by the Trump administration called the Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA), which was supposed to include Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Egypt, and Jordan. In fact, the idea of such an alliance was originally conceived back in 2011, when the region was rocked by the Arab Spring.
The choice of countries is somewhat doubtful, however, given current friction between Qatar and Saudi Arabia. And if Qatar’s active cooperation with Iran is taken into account, then the alliance just isn’t possible in such a configuration.
Yet it has already been estimated that the annual expenditure of such a military alliance, excluding the US, would be $100 billion, and it would command over 300,000 troops, 5,000 tanks and 1,000 combat aircraft. The principles of engagement between the alliance’s members will differ from the NATO Charter, however.
There are forces in the US with an interest in drawing India into the orbit of their strategic influence, too. To begin with, discussions are underway regarding the possibility of granting India the same status that NATO countries have in military and political dealings with the US. Although officially, New Delhi and Washington are already working together as part of the Indo–Pacific Partnership.
It is likely that the crisis that has erupted as a result of the pandemic will adjust these ambitious plans by US war hawks, especially when one considers that NATO has been fairly ineffectual in tackling the pandemic. It has not yet reached its peak in Europe, but EU and NATO countries are already being torn apart by scandals and conflicts. It is interesting that the only assistance NATO has given Italy to tackle the spread of the coronavirus is the delivery of a mobile patient staging system designed to hold 40 patients. That’s it.
[Image: “This afternoon an C-130 delivered a mobile Patient Staging System to #Aviano Air Base.The system can support stabilizing up to 40 # coronavirus patients for 24hr” via Italy at NATO twitter] The [NATO] alliance’s inability to respond promptly to challenges and come to the aid of its countries’ citizens supports the idea that NATO is not an organisation for the collective security of Europe, but a relic of a bygone era that is being taken advantage of and exploited by a third power with absolutely no connection to the European continent.” [Such as the US which exists only to carry out genocides especially against "its own" citizens.]
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Among comments:
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“Marijan, 4/2/20”
“The overwhelming majority of Macedonians do not support entry into NATO. Macedonia is a country under a de facto occupation. Macedonia is run by a fifth column – leftist/Soros party SDS in government in coalition with Albanian parties with logistical support from an array of media and all manner propagandists that have saturated the public domain. All under the auspices of Western Embassies and of course Soros.” [And of course Trump, too, who’s eager to deliver for his convicted felon pal and family business associate, Soros.]
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Added: More on US puppet Greece:
Delivering Obama’s third term, Trump retained Obama’s War Industry Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt. Pyatt’s earlier job for Obama and US oligarchs had been in 2013 and 2014 to oversee the violent overthrow of Ukraine’s elected government and installation of a US puppet government (“Yats is the guy”) which made things even worse, Pyatt is now destabilizing Greece.
Image: “Yats is the guy:” Dec. 2013 in Kiev, Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt with Victoria Nuland prepare for Feb. 2014 US violent overthrow of Ukraine and US selection of puppet replacements including [“Yats”] Arseny Yatsenyuk as interim leader.] 9/27/19, “Alexandroupolis, new US base against Russia," Voltaire via Il Manifesto, Manlio Dinucci
“Geoffrey R. Pyatt was the United States ambassador to Ukraine from 2013 to 2016. There he organized, together with Victoria Nuland, the coup d’etat of Euromaidan. [“Yats is the guy.”] In 2016, Barack Obama appointed him [Pyatt] ambassador to Greece, from where he organized a schism within the Orthodox church. Currently [under Trump], its mission is to end the supply of Russian gas to the European Union.” [Pyatt is another mass murdering Obama holdover retained by Trump. After overseeing the violent overthrow of Ukraine’s elected government and installation of a US puppet government that made things even worse, Pyatt moves on to destabilizing Greece. By choosing to retain Pyatt, Trump confirms yet again that his heart belongs to mass murdering US oligarchs].
“« I have just returned from Alexandroupolis, an important strategic visit that refines both the exceptional military relations between the United States and Greece and the strategic investment that the United States government is making in Alexandroupolis. » Geoffrey Pyatt, United States Ambassador to Greece, September 16, 2019.” “The port of Alexandroupolis, in northeastern Greece bordering Turkey and Bulgaria, is located in front of the Aegean Sea, on the edge of the Dardanelles Strait, which, connecting the Mediterranean with the Black Sea in Turkish territory, constitutes a fundamental route of the Maritime transit, especially for Russia.
The strategic importance of that port, which Ambassador Pyatt visited accompanied by the Minister of Defense of Greece, Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, has been the subject of an explanation provided precisely by the United States embassy in Athens:
“Due to its strategic location and its infrastructure, the port of Alexandroupolis is well placed to guarantee support for military exercises in the region, as was demonstrated in the recent Saber Guardian 2019.
The "strategic investment" that Washington is already making in several ports aims to turn Alexandroupolis into one of the most important US military bases in the region, with the ability to block Russian ships‘ access to the Mediterranean. That is possible thanks to the “exceptional military relations" with Greece, which has long since made its bases available to the United States – especially the base of Larissa, for the armed drones Reaper, that of Stefanovikeio for F-16 fighter planes and Apache helicopters. This last base will be privatized and the United States has decided to buy it [with US tax dollars].
Ambassador Pyatt does not hide the interest of the United States to strengthen its military presence in Greece, as well as in other countries of the Mediterranean region. « We work with other democratic partners in the region to reject malefic actors such as Russia and China, with interests contrary to ours »,"...
[
You mean unlike "malefic" US which protects and lavishly funds Islamic terrorists with billions of US tax dollars, refuses to aid starving Syrian children unless they live in terrorist enclaves, and illegally occupies one third of Syria?] (continuing): "explains the US ambassador before stating that « Russia uses energy as an instrument of its malefic influence ». [Assuming that’s so, how is it not “malefic” when terrorist US does it?] He then underlines the importance that “geopolitics of energy" has achieved, stating that ” Alexandroupolis has a crucial role as a link for energy security and stability in Europe .“ Western Thrace, the Greek region where the port of Alexandroupolis is located, is, in effect, ” an energy crossroads for central and eastern Europe .”
Just look at the map to understand what the ambassador means. Eastern Thrace is bordering the small European part of Turkey where it arrives, after crossing the Black Sea, the Turk Stream gas pipeline from Russia, already in completion. From there, through another pipeline, Russian gas should reach Bulgaria, Serbia and other European countries. That is the Russian response to the US maneuver, which – with the important complicity of the European Union – blocked in 2014 the South-Stream pipeline, which would have brought Russian gas to Italy and the other countries of the European Union. The United States is now trying to block the Turk Stream as well, which is already more difficult due to the deterioration of relations between Ankara and Washington. So the United States now hopes to use Greece, a country that large amounts of US liquid natural gas are already arriving to replace Russian gas.
It is not yet clear what the United States is preparing in Greece, even against China, which plans to make the Greek port of Piraeus an important stopover of the new Silk Road. But it would not be surprising if we had a "Alexandroupolis incident ” in the Aegean Sea, similar to the "Tonkin incident".”
“Source
Il Manifesto (Italy)”
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Image, Feb. 2014, Pyatt (center), then US Ambassador to Ukraine, meets with US puppet “Yats,” Arseny Yatsenyuk (R) and others, Reuters
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Added: Trump continues to ramp up instead of cut back US foreign military involvement:
“U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper presented to Congress last week a list of 127 plans to expand, renovate or build new U.S. military infrastructure and bases abroad, many of which are in Greece. This suggests that the U.S. is fortifying Greece as a means to block Russia in the Black Sea, the location of Russia’s only ice-free ports.”…
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