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    Palestine is decisive for peace in Middle East!

    Azerbaijan dismisses claims of involvement in Israel-Iran conflict

    Elite Purges: Internal Conflict or External Design?

    Trump’s Threat of U.S. Intervention in Iran Exposes Roots of Critics’ Fears

    Crisis-Born, Purpose-Seeking: Can the EPC Define Europe’s Strategic Future?

    Serbia’s Request to the ICJ Turned Resolution 1244 into a Closed Chapter and Kosovo’s Independence into an Internationally Recognized Reality

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    Promoting Arab Culture and Language in the Framework of Cultural Diversity and Dialogue.

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    “Diplomacy, Not War”: Palestinian Ambassador to Albania Calls for Justice, Peace, and Global Action for Gaza

    Exclusive: “Even After Tito – Tito”/ Ambassador Zlatko Kramarić on Authoritarian Legacies and Democracy’s Future in the Balkans

    The Conclusion of the Diplomatic Mission / Ambassador Dancho Markovski: Strengthening Albania-North Macedonia Relations for a Shared European Future

    A Century of Diplomatic Relations Between Albania and Russia: Exclusive Interview with the Russian Ambassador to Albania, H.E. Alexey Zaytsev

    Exclusive/ The chairman of the Freedom Party, Ilir Meta: “The will of the citizens will triumph in Albania, as it did in North Macedonia”

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    Exclusive/ Skopje’s top diplomat to Tirana, Dancho Markovski: OSCE Chairmanship a Project of National Importance for North Macedonia

    Exclusive interview of Croatian Ambassador Zlatko Kramaric: ‘There is progress in Croatian-Albanian relations, but it is still not enough’  

    The first anniversary of the appointment as Archbishop at the head of the Catholic Church/ Mons. Arjan Dodaj: Only God can be the author of our walk!

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    Alaska, a bell toll for Europe! No trade partners but adversaries! Palestina and the two states solution! When Pristina drowns in a spoonful of water!

    Geopolitical equation with several unknowns!

    Summit G 6+1! The historic Summit and Trump show! Zelensky loses 0:2! Winners and losers of the 12 day war!

    Chancellor Merz passed “the exam”! Political stupidity! 5 per cent or study Russian! The Firing East!      

    A top phone call as disappointment! Exit from Brexit! Germany at the helm! End this political shame up!

    That’s it! The quartet of hope! Shame on Kosovo! The Summit of a Community without Identity!

    Only praises and prolises for Meloni! Facts versus untruths! Immediate ceasefire and genuine peace, no deal for new occupation! Back after 60 years !

    US nuclear tariff bomb!! Europa fires back! NATO ok, but with or without Article 5? Kallas urges reforms!

    Europe riarmed! Germany’s epochal shift! Spoiled soup! EU Commissioner Kos demands reforms!

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    Ambassador of Egypt Recognizes CAA’s Constructive Role in Middle East Affairs

    “Council of Albanian Ambassadors condemns Gaza operation, calls for two-state solution”

    Alaska, a bell toll for Europe! No trade partners but adversaries! Palestina and the two states solution! When Pristina drowns in a spoonful of water!

    The Americans In, the Russians Down, and the Iranians Out: The Regional Impact of the Armenia- Azerbaijan Peace Agreement

    How Belgrade Keeps the Serb Community in Kosovo Under Political Control

    President Aliyev gives an interview to Azerbaijani media: US-Azerbaijan open new chapter of strategic partnership 

    International recognition of Palestine: Political marketing or genuine change?

    Visit to the Council of American Ambassadors Headquarters.

    “This Is Genocide”: Albanian Journalists Call for Urgent Government Action for Gaza

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    Ambassador of Egypt Recognizes CAA’s Constructive Role in Middle East Affairs

    “Council of Albanian Ambassadors condemns Gaza operation, calls for two-state solution”

    Zelensky in Brussels: A ceasefire and clear security guarantees are needed for Ukraine

    Visit to the Council of American Ambassadors Headquarters.

    China looks forward to Europe viewing bilateral ties in a comprehensive, dialectical, and developing manner: Chinese FM spokesperson

    The NATO Summit in 2027 will be held in Tirana.

    NATO allies agree to allocate 5% of GDP to defense by 2035

    Reza Pahlavi: “This Is Our Berlin Wall Moment” — Exiled Prince Calls for Global Support as Iran Nears Regime Collapse

    Where does Donald Trump stand on the Israel-Iran conflict?

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  • Home
  • OP/ED

    The world goes on as usual – unpredictably

    Palestine is decisive for peace in Middle East!

    Azerbaijan dismisses claims of involvement in Israel-Iran conflict

    Elite Purges: Internal Conflict or External Design?

    Trump’s Threat of U.S. Intervention in Iran Exposes Roots of Critics’ Fears

    Crisis-Born, Purpose-Seeking: Can the EPC Define Europe’s Strategic Future?

    Serbia’s Request to the ICJ Turned Resolution 1244 into a Closed Chapter and Kosovo’s Independence into an Internationally Recognized Reality

    Unpredictable world

    Promoting Arab Culture and Language in the Framework of Cultural Diversity and Dialogue.

  • Interview

    “Diplomacy, Not War”: Palestinian Ambassador to Albania Calls for Justice, Peace, and Global Action for Gaza

    Exclusive: “Even After Tito – Tito”/ Ambassador Zlatko Kramarić on Authoritarian Legacies and Democracy’s Future in the Balkans

    The Conclusion of the Diplomatic Mission / Ambassador Dancho Markovski: Strengthening Albania-North Macedonia Relations for a Shared European Future

    A Century of Diplomatic Relations Between Albania and Russia: Exclusive Interview with the Russian Ambassador to Albania, H.E. Alexey Zaytsev

    Exclusive/ The chairman of the Freedom Party, Ilir Meta: “The will of the citizens will triumph in Albania, as it did in North Macedonia”

    Exclusive/ The Russian Ambassador to Albania Mr. Mikhail Afanasiev: Russia only aims to end that war started by the West in Ukraine

    Exclusive/ Skopje’s top diplomat to Tirana, Dancho Markovski: OSCE Chairmanship a Project of National Importance for North Macedonia

    Exclusive interview of Croatian Ambassador Zlatko Kramaric: ‘There is progress in Croatian-Albanian relations, but it is still not enough’  

    The first anniversary of the appointment as Archbishop at the head of the Catholic Church/ Mons. Arjan Dodaj: Only God can be the author of our walk!

  • Realpolitik

    Alaska, a bell toll for Europe! No trade partners but adversaries! Palestina and the two states solution! When Pristina drowns in a spoonful of water!

    Geopolitical equation with several unknowns!

    Summit G 6+1! The historic Summit and Trump show! Zelensky loses 0:2! Winners and losers of the 12 day war!

    Chancellor Merz passed “the exam”! Political stupidity! 5 per cent or study Russian! The Firing East!      

    A top phone call as disappointment! Exit from Brexit! Germany at the helm! End this political shame up!

    That’s it! The quartet of hope! Shame on Kosovo! The Summit of a Community without Identity!

    Only praises and prolises for Meloni! Facts versus untruths! Immediate ceasefire and genuine peace, no deal for new occupation! Back after 60 years !

    US nuclear tariff bomb!! Europa fires back! NATO ok, but with or without Article 5? Kallas urges reforms!

    Europe riarmed! Germany’s epochal shift! Spoiled soup! EU Commissioner Kos demands reforms!

  • Current Events

    Ambassador of Egypt Recognizes CAA’s Constructive Role in Middle East Affairs

    “Council of Albanian Ambassadors condemns Gaza operation, calls for two-state solution”

    Alaska, a bell toll for Europe! No trade partners but adversaries! Palestina and the two states solution! When Pristina drowns in a spoonful of water!

    The Americans In, the Russians Down, and the Iranians Out: The Regional Impact of the Armenia- Azerbaijan Peace Agreement

    How Belgrade Keeps the Serb Community in Kosovo Under Political Control

    President Aliyev gives an interview to Azerbaijani media: US-Azerbaijan open new chapter of strategic partnership 

    International recognition of Palestine: Political marketing or genuine change?

    Visit to the Council of American Ambassadors Headquarters.

    “This Is Genocide”: Albanian Journalists Call for Urgent Government Action for Gaza

  • Top News

    Ambassador of Egypt Recognizes CAA’s Constructive Role in Middle East Affairs

    “Council of Albanian Ambassadors condemns Gaza operation, calls for two-state solution”

    Zelensky in Brussels: A ceasefire and clear security guarantees are needed for Ukraine

    Visit to the Council of American Ambassadors Headquarters.

    China looks forward to Europe viewing bilateral ties in a comprehensive, dialectical, and developing manner: Chinese FM spokesperson

    The NATO Summit in 2027 will be held in Tirana.

    NATO allies agree to allocate 5% of GDP to defense by 2035

    Reza Pahlavi: “This Is Our Berlin Wall Moment” — Exiled Prince Calls for Global Support as Iran Nears Regime Collapse

    Where does Donald Trump stand on the Israel-Iran conflict?

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Home ENGLISH

Offensive defence: How Putin saved NATO

11 July, 2023
in ENGLISH, English OP/ED
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In a period of great malaise in the West, the Russian president has given the military alliance new meaning, mission and drive.

Marwan Bishara

It feels like we are worlds away from the time when French President Emmanuel Macron declared NATO “brain dead” on the eve of its London summit in 2019. Since then, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has revived and reinvigorated the North Atlantic alliance like never before in its 74-year history, as demonstrated by the enthusiasm for its summit this week in Lithuania.

Macron had argued that the alliance had bickered needlessly on burden-sharing when its members had no shared vision or common objectives regarding security in Europe, claiming that terrorism was the common enemy that “hit all our countries”, not China or Russia. He also insisted that Europe had to become more autonomous in the security sphere because the United States was becoming less reliable.

President Donald Trump had heightened tensions over NATO’s burden-sharing, falsely accusing European members of lowering their military spending and undermining the alliance’s basic tenet of collective security. He even threatened to withdraw the US from the alliance. Indeed, NATO had barely survived four years of Trump.

For all practical matters, the North Atlantic alliance, which was conceived in Washington to keep the Soviets out, the Americans in and the Germans down, had lost its raison d’etre after the end of the Cold War. The collapse of the Soviet Union, the breakup of the Warsaw Pact and German unification symbolised the end of an era and the rise of a new, more united, secure and confident Europe.

Then came the Balkan wars, ushering in years of NATO intervention. This was followed by the 9/11 attacks on the United States, prompting the alliance to invoke Article 5 for the first time in its history, paving the way for NATO’s extended “out of area” operations in the greater Middle East and beyond and leading to further transformation of its military capabilities to confront new asymmetrical threats and enemies.

But divisions over the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq undermined the alliance’s political and military cohesion. NATO’s attempts to pick up some of the burden in 2004 failed to stem the tide of chaos and instability in Iraq, leading to its withdrawal in 2011. The US-NATO failures were further highlighted by the rise of the “Islamic State” in Iraq and Syria.

If the occupation of Iraq was a disastrous American blunder, the occupation of Afghanistan was a terrible humiliation for NATO. The costly 20-year war ended in a shameful, poorly coordinated withdrawal in 2021 and the extraordinary return of the Taliban to rule the country as they did before the invasion.

And that’s not all. NATO’s 2011 military intervention in Libya was no less of a foolish bungle. Its intense pounding of Libyan forces through an estimated 7,000 bombing sorties over eight months may have dislodged Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, but it also paved the way for a costly civil war that continues to paralyse the country today. President Barack Obama later defined the intervention as “the worst mistake” of his presidency.

In short, despite its expansion eastwards, NATO had failed miserably to fulfil its military missions or define its core strategic mission for the 21st century. President Joe Biden’s 2021 declaration that “America is back” on the world stage and his attempts to reverse the harm caused to US reliability and credibility by his predecessors and reunite and salvage the alliance were met with a high degree of scepticism in Europe.

But all changed the following year. Scepticism suddenly vanished after Russia embarked on a full-scale invasion of Ukraine camouflaged as a “limited military operation” aimed at protecting its Russian-majority provinces.

President Vladimir Putin had long warned against US-NATO meddling in his region or area of influence and warned against its intention to expand eastwards to Georgia and Ukraine. But all his warnings fell on deaf ears in Washington, no less at the Biden White House, which was bent on reviving the transatlantic relationship.

After years of rapprochement, European leaders have felt particularly betrayed by Putin’s invasion, regardless of its motives and objectives. It has lent credibility to Biden’s suspicions and warnings and left them looking foolish. They reckoned they had little or no choice but to coalesce around an American-led NATO to face up to the new danger from the east.

Countries like Finland, which had long promised to stay out of NATO, are now vying to get in at any cost. Likewise, Sweden’s desperate efforts to join the alliance following Turkey’s objections illustrate to what extent Europeans are willing to go. In fact, only after the EU joined in the mediation efforts with enticements has Turkey lifted its objections.

Today, NATO is determined to confront and weaken Russia, albeit indirectly, on the battlefield and to deter Putin from attempting any such future folly. NATO powers have shown their readiness to provide Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars in assistance and with some of the most sophisticated and dangerous weapons, including cluster bombs, determined to fight until the last Ukrainian soldier.

In a period of great malaise in the West, Putin has given NATO a new meaning, mission and drive. Regardless of how his war goes or when it ends, Russia has already lost the moral and strategic high ground to an ever more offensive alliance that is sure to militarise the continent and expand its outreach worldwide.

Did someone say new NATO liaison office in Japan?

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