Jordan's King calls Crown Prince; welcomes Saudi stance on rights of Palestinians    Takamol Holding to showcase advanced technology solutions and services at LEAP 2025    MoH summons person for spreading misinformation that ginger causes strokes    GEA hosts mass wedding of 300 couples at "Night of a Lifetime" celebration during Riyadh Season 300 cars and housing as gifts for the newlyweds    Makkah deputy emir inaugurates 179 educational projects in Makkah and Jeddah    7 Saudi hospitals advance in Brand Finance's 2025 rankings    Food Culture Festival kicks off in Riyadh's Diplomatic Quarter    Saudi Arabia to present 'The Um Slaim School: An Architecture of Connection' at Biennale Architettura 2025 Syn Architects explore Riyadh's architectural heritage, fostering new pedagogical approaches and global dialogue    Al Hilal reclaims top spot in AFC Champions League Elite with 4-1 win over Persepolis    USAID employees around the world will be placed on leave Friday and ordered to return to US    Billionaire philanthropist Aga Khan dies    At least ten people killed in Swedish school shooting, authorities say    Trump says US will 'take over' Gaza Strip and doesn't rule out using American troops    Royal Decree Enhances Integrity and Recovers Public Funds    SRMG Think hosts high-level discussion on IMF's latest GCC economic report in Riyadh    Trump: US aims to catch up Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund    PetroRent signing ceremony marks innovative collaboration between Petromin and Transregions to transform car rental and leasing services    Cristiano Ronaldo scores twice as Al Nassr thrashes Al Wasl 4-0 in AFC Champions League Elite    Al Ahli extends unbeaten run with 3-1 comeback win over Al Sadd in AFC Champions League Elite    Grammy Awards 2025: Beyoncé wins best country album    Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan 'out of danger' after attack at home in Mumbai    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



NATO: A New Strategic Concept and Many Wars
Published in AL HAYAT on 20 - 11 - 2010

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has a new Strategic Concept, one that brings back the climate of the Cold War, and exceeds it to take on missions outside the scope of its traditional missions, limited to defending Europe in facing the Warsaw Pact alliance. In other words, it relies on the United States' theory of preemptive wars, so as to “adapt to new threats”, as stated in the document being discussed at the Lisbon Summit today – a document that can be summed up by saying that NATO must “confront terrorism, secure energy sources and their supply routes, and counter maritime piracy, organized crime and cyber warfare”.
NATO strategists have divided the world in light of the American view which took shape under George Bush and the Neoconservatives, and which Barack Obama continues to apply in other ways.
Based on this division of the world, one notes that NATO's concerns focus on Eurasia and the Middle East. Those two regions are the sources of energy and terrorism, and controlling them requires the cooperation of a few countries that are friends of NATO and of the United States, such as the Arab Gulf states, Iraq, naturally, as well as Turkey, which is a fundamental member of NATO. The task of such a coalition would be on the one hand to ward off Iran, and on the other to return to surrounding Russia in Eurasia, after it has been surrounded at the European level. This explains the pressure exerted on Turkey to allow NATO to deploy its missile shield on its soil. The missiles are aimed primarily at Iran to prevent it from spreading its influence towards the Gulf and the Levant. They also aim at restoring Ankara to its former position, after it excessively leaned towards the East, nearly forming a coalition with Tehran and Moscow, and aspiring to playing an essential rule in the Middle East in collaboration with Syria.
Regaining Turkey also means breaking the isolation that surrounds Israel, and providing it with the space to be at the core of this strategy without declaring it. Indeed, Israel is the main military base for NATO and the United States in the Middle East.
It is true that Turkey has laid down conditions for allowing the deployment of the missile shield on its soil, among them that of not naming Iran, Russia or any other country in the NATO document. Nevertheless, this does not prevent the goal of the shield being to confront these countries and to protect Israel, especially as NATO in its new Strategic Concept has specified the zones of danger. NATO operations will not be limited to defense, as it has in fact adopted attack, or preemptive war, as a new method.
Turkey has never faced such a test in the past. It is true that it refrained from allowing the United States to invade Iraq from its soil, and sided with Iran in many stances, the latest being voting at the Security Council against sanctions on Iran. However, this time its options are not many, especially after having crossed a great distance towards establishing itself as a regional power that has its own strategy in the Middle East and in Central Asia, far from the policies of NATO and the United States. Will it then abandon its new Ottomanism to follow Atatürk's dreams of being European?
NATO strategists (some of them Cold War experts, such as Madeleine Albright) have presented at the Lisbon Summit a document that essentially allows for making use of the United Nations and of international and regional organization in order to implement NATO plans. Once again, NATO seeks after political and military control of the world, and the great confrontation will take place in the Arab World and Central Asia – a confrontation that will detonate in local and regional wars, which will witness changing regimes and perhaps also the borders of some countries.


Clic here to read the story from its source.