The End of NATO

The purpose of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), according to its first Secretary General, Lord Ismay, was “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.” But this is not the whole truth–the purpose of NATO was to entrench US dominance vis-à-vis the post-War liberal order by manufacturing a Russian threat, perpetuating German disunity, and advancing the argument that America must retain a military presence on the European continent in perpetuity. Built on a foundation of half-truths, lies and outright distortions of fact, NATO was a vehicle for the American-led containment of the Soviet Union, promoting a false prophesy of doom at the hands of international Communism that served to legitimize American militarism. On several occasions it nearly became self-fulfilling and nearly destroyed the world. The End of NATO looks at the history of this intergovernmental alliance with the benefit of hindsight, exposing the cause and effect relationship between NATO policies and the creation of an ongoing East-West standoff in Europe, including the proliferation of nuclear weapons that created conditions that threatened a global thermonuclear annihilation. The reunification of Germany in 1989 and the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked the end of NATO’s legitimacy but not its abandonment, due to the American desire to continue its military dominance of Europe. The End of NATO tracks how at American behest, NATO deviated from its original mandate of collective self-defense to one which is violating guarantees made to Russia’s Mikhail Gorbachev not to expand eastward, fighting offensive wars of aggression on European soil, and expanding its reach to North Africa, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia. These missions have created deep divides within the expanded membership of the new NATO, prompting a debate about the primary mandate of the organization–to protect Europe and the trans-Atlantic by promoting stability and security on the European periphery, or to return to containing the regional ambitions of what is now a rejuvenated Russia. Neither mission is in the interests of greater Europe. The End of NATO explores the many fissures created through the pursuit of these competing agendas and why they will ultimately lead to the demise of an organization which has long lost its purpose and utility.