NATO Archives - Page 11 of 29 - Foreign Policy In Focus

Syria’s Revolution Will Succeed

by Adil E. Shamoo | Jan 13, 2012

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime must step down immediately—without Western military intervention. Certainly, the Syrian people deserve support to protect them from the brutal and barbaric onslaught of the Syrian’s security forces. But such assistance and safe haven should come from Arab countries and Turkey. Help from other Arab or Muslim countries would be less offensive to the Syrian people, would be less likely to entail an occupation force, and would likely be less long-lasting than an intervention by Western countries.

Libya for Libyans

by Michael Berube | Jan 12, 2012

I write in late December 2011, as the United States finally withdraws combat troops from Iraq, and the likely Republican nominee for president in 2012, Mitt Romney, criticizes President Obama for his “precipitous” withdrawal. Nearly nine years in Iraq in a disastrous war of choice is apparently not enough for dead-ender hawks like Romney, who, undaunted by the long debacle, continue to insist that the United States should leave up to 30,000 troops in the country–perhaps in partial fulfillment of John McCain’s suggestion that the United States remain in Iraq for 100 years.

Libya and the New Warmongering

by David Gibbs | Jan 12, 2012

The NATO intervention in Libya is likely to produce a more militarized and insecure world, and this will be its most enduring legacy. The military “success”in Libya has increased the possibility of new wars. There is a widespread perception that NATO has achieved an easy victory against Gaddafi, and the resulting sense of hubris augments the risk of future military actions against Iran, Syria, and other possible targets. Politicians in NATO countries surely welcome the public distraction that war provides, especially in the context of the world-wide economic slump, and this may prove an additional motivation for new military action.

Are 24 Pakistani Soldiers Dead Because of the “Fog of War” or a Calculated Strike?

by Conn Hallinan | Dec 3, 2011

The NATO border attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers: “fog of war” incident or a calculated hit aimed at torpedoing peace talks in Afghanistan?

NATO Airstrike Highlights Af-Pak Animosity as Well as U.S.-Pak

by Russ Wellen | Nov 29, 2011

Many Afghans were pleased about the NATO airstrike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

NATO Airstrike Played Right Into Pakistani Insurgents’ Hands

by Russ Wellen | Nov 28, 2011

Ostensibly Pakistani forces fired upon joint NATO-Afghan forces.

The Price of the Libya Intervention: Surface to Air Missiles for All

by Conn Hallinan | Oct 14, 2011

Enough surface-to-air missiles have disappeared in Libya to turn all of North Africa into a no-fly zone.

Time to Disband NATO: A Rogue Alliance

by Alice Slater | Sep 7, 2011

When the Cold War ended, many believed there would be a peace dividend, nuclear disarmament, and dismantling of the war machine with industrial conversion to peaceful technology. Instead, we’ve witnessed the aggressive expansion of NATO, to include the former Soviet Republics, right up to the Russian border, which should be a wake-up call to many living in the American Empire. Many people still labor under the apparently false impression that the US is exemplary in holding up the rule of law, the sanctity of the United Nations, and human rights. After all, Americans were the good guys who defeated Hitler and made the world safe for democracy. The NATO expansion took place despite promises made to Gorbachev after the peaceful dissolution of the Soviet Union with the fall of the Berlin Wall that if he dropped his objections to the admission of a unified Germany as a full-fledged, fully armed member of NATO, the western states would freeze NATO membership and not expand any further east. Russia lost 20 million people in World War II to the Nazi onslaught, and Russian wariness of a strengthened reunited Germany participating with their former NATO foe was certainly understandable.

Libyan Rebel Forces Continue to Detain Sub-Saharans and Black Libyans

by Peter Certo | Sep 4, 2011

NATO allies working to outmaneuver one another to secure oil contracts in Libya have overshadowed their “responsibility to protect.”

Why Are Some Progressives Gloating over Libya?

by Peter Certo | Aug 25, 2011

One hopes this chapter ends happily for the Libyan people, and certainly the taunts of Libya hawks will be endurable if it does. But no progressive should celebrate yet another circumvention – this one by a Nobel Peace Prize winner, no less – of the mechanisms intended to prevent the wanton and unaccountable waging of war.