usnraptor wrote:
Mlad,
How about you tell us what is happening in France. Do you guys have guillotines set up yet? Is there a large resistance to the NWO or is everyone pussing out?
Containment of Russia is NATO's only remaining objective
Interesting events are taking place in the region of the world known as the West. A summary of the situation gives a rather contradictory picture.
On the one hand, with the arrival of Joe Biden in the White House, the Western community is actively trying to re-establish its unity along the lines of the Cold War of the second half of the 20th century. To this end, an emphasis is being placed on ideology. When talking about disputes with China, Washington emphasizes the values aspect, not the geopolitical or economic one - the fight against autocracies, which seek to undermine the foundations of the liberal world order. Russia is also included in this category, and on the whole Moscow and Beijing create, according to the United States, a sufficiently frightening image to rally the somewhat bewildered Europeans around America. This was precisely the objective of Joe Biden's entire tour in June: to recruit allies and ideological friends to fight China, even if no one on the Old Continent wants to jump on these barricades.
On the other hand, Washington treats its European allies rather harshly. The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, which has turned into a total confusion for all the actors of the international contingent, was organized without consulting the allies. They were presented with a fait accompli. The trilateral pact between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia on a new military-technological alliance in the Pacific Ocean was prepared by the Anglo-Saxons behind the backs of all others.
France is the most offended, because it has lost, among other things, a huge contract. But the whole of continental Europe could see how much its opinion does not interest the United States. And this is demonstrated. Europe has once again spoken of the need to prepare a "plan B" in case the United States definitively gives up on security guarantees for the Old Continent. But there is still no clear idea of what that plan might look like.
Clearly, Washington pragmatically assumes that Europe has no other choice. And rightly so. Discussions about a possible "strategic autonomy" for Europe are accompanied by the obligatory mantra that it is not an alternative to NATO. But in this case, what can we talk about? Either the military alliance exists and is engaged in full-fledged planning of the necessary measures and resources, or it is just talk. But it is impossible to imagine a military structure in Europe that exists in parallel with NATO and practically coincides with NATO in its composition (without the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada). At least because the Europeans are already reluctantly spending money on NATO and will certainly not pay for another. While discussions about NATO's strategic autonomy are absurd: in a military-political organization must be a unified discipline and management.
In short, nothing would threaten NATO if it did not have a "but". NATO's only remaining common function is the containment of Russia. Everything else, including dealing with China, does not unite and instead disunites.
The assumption that Atlantic unity is not eternal and that the main partner could reorient itself to another region (Indo-Pacific) is causing growing nervousness in Europe. All the more so as the main European powers are going through complex internal transformations, against the background of which they particularly need stability on the external contour.
Germany, where a parliamentary election has just been held, ending the long era of Angela Merkel, is confronted with the need to reassess its place in Europe and the world. But it does not want to do so. The old model of living comfortably in the European ark under an Atlantic umbrella suited the Germans perfectly. They would like to leave everything as it is, but reality is becoming blurred.
It is even more complicated for France, where crucial elections are expected in the spring. There are many domestic problems, but on the external front Paris has found itself in a phase of frustration - from the broken contract with Australia to the statements of the authorities in Mali, a country considered by France to be its backyard. And on the whole the country has to solve its problems on the international scene by its own forces and rely only on itself, these problems concern the allies only very indirectly.
The West as a system of common interests based on Euro-Atlantic institutions seems to be on the verge of disappearing.