Post Cold War, NATO survived as it was a handy tool for the US and its allies to circumvent a toothless UN

@prashanthamine

Mumbai: On July 1, 1991, in Prague, the Czechoslovak President Václav Havel formally ended the 1955 Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance and so disestablished the Warsaw Treaty after 36 years of military alliance with the USSR. The USSR disestablished itself in December 1991.

Back then in 1991, the nascent Russian Federation had hoped that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) too will be disbanded and a larger European security apparatus that would include the Russians as well, will be put in place.

The Russians weakened, dewy eyed and almost besotted the US and its western allies, trusted them to keep their word, which they never did!

Since then, the US led NATO has had a virtual free run, in dictating geopolitics around the world. The US led NATO has used resolutions adopted by the United Nations Organisation (UN) as a fig-leaf of a license to take action or intervene in international conflicts, be it in Africa, West Asia or even in Afghanistan.

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In the case of Afghanistan, we all know by now what goals the NATO assisted International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) achieved while training the Afghan military. The Afghan military simply refused to retaliate and capitulated against the marauding Taliban militia as they captured Kabul on August 15, 2021. Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan has left an “enduring” painful memory on the psyche of the Americans.

In Somalia, also, the Battle of Mogadishu in October 1993 which led to deaths of 18 US soldiers sent shock waves across the US. Especially the images of bodies of US soldiers being tied to the pick-up trucks by the local militia and dragged across the streets of Mogadishu.

The coverage of the Vietnam war in 1972 and the US incursion in neighbouring Cambodia led to public outcry against the war. The world-famous photograph of a nine-year-old South Vietnamese girl Kim Phuc (called as the Napalm Girl) struck by incendiary Napalm, crying and running naked, trying to save herself, shook the conscience of the world and brought a speedy end to the infamous war.

It was not as if the US led NATO had been accused of imposed military interventions, the Soviets too during the Cold War era had been guilty of unilateral interventions. In August 1956, the Soviet Union had invaded Czechoslovakia, Hungary again in 1956, Berlin in 1953 and Afghanistan 1979.

Since 1994, NATO has been involved in about 30 odd military missions abroad. Most notable include – former Yugoslavia in September 1995, August-September 1995 Air campaign in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo 1999, Iraq (1990-1991 & 2004-2011).

But none have been as controversial as the NATO bombing missions in former Yugoslavia in September 1995. The 1995-1999 air raids in Kosovo to end the conflict between Kosovo’s Albanian separatists and Serbian military and police.

NATO countries had tried to get authorisation from the UN Security Council (UNSC) for military action, but were opposed by China and Russia who had threatened to veto the proposal. However, NATO launched its air campaign without the UN approval claiming it to be a humanitarian intervention. The UN charter prohibits use of force, except in case of any decision by the UNSC, or against an armed attack, none of the excuses were present in the Yugoslavia case.

Another controversial NATO mission was the May 2003 intervention in Iraq ostensibly to flush out suspected chemical weapons or Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). NATO now tries to wash its hands-off the military operation arguing that it had got nothing to do with it and that it was a multinational operation. The US-led coalition, Operation Iraqi Freedom, ousted the Saddam Hussein regime. It is still not clear as to what the NATO forces found in Iraq.

The UN too has been accused of failing the world community in resolving some still festering contentious international disputes – Israeli occupation of Palestine (since 1948), Somalia civil war (since 1991), Rwandan civil war (since 1994), Darfur conflict in Sudan (since 2003), Syrian civil war (since 2011), South Sudan (since 2013), Yemen civil war (since 2014) and Rohingya crisis (since 2017).

At present the UN is engaged in Peacekeeping Operations in about 11 countries and places around the world – Western Sahara, Central African Republic, Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, Golan Heights, Cyprus, Lebanon, Abyei, Kosovo, South Sudan and the Middle East.

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The UN appears like a toothless tiger, with the all-powerful NATO hogging all the limelight. The creation of NATO albeit was the by-product of the Cold War, its continued existence after the end of the Cold War against the backdrop of the UN raises some tough questions.

In the UN where the Permanent Five members of the Security Council – US, UK, France, China and Russia have veto power, to veto any proposal or resolution that they feel is detrimental to their interests. Not so in the case of the US dominated NATO. It has often used UN resolutions as a fig-leaf of an excuse to launch a full-scale military intervention in a country. In the case of its Yugoslavia operations (September 1995) it did not need one!

The top three contributors towards UN Peacekeeping Operations as of January 31, 2022 include – Bangladesh (6,403 personnel), Nepal (5,657 personnel) and India (5,598 personnel). These personnel account for experts, police units, individual police, staff officers and troops.

Out of the total deployment of 75,257 UN Peacekeeping troops, Bangladesh, Nepal and India alone account for 17,658 peacekeeping personnel.

As against this the contribution of the US and its NATO allies to UN Peacekeeping operations according to UN Peacekeeping Force data is as follows – Germany 647 personnel, France 635 personnel, UK 523, Ukraine 310, Russian Federation 79, Australia 31 and USA 31 personnel.

Contrast that with the NATO force strengths as per its own 2000 figures, the top NATO countries are – US 22,33,050, Turkey 8,90,700 and France 3,75,100. The total military force strength of NATO was 2,04,438.07 and an expenditure amount to $18.09 billion.

As the West and the US are piling up the sanctions on an already sanctioned Russia, it is testing India’s Non-Aligned foreign policy doctrine. But there is complete silence over imposing sanctions on Pakistan for illegally occupying parts of Kashmir. Or for that matter impose sanctions on China for its illegal occupation of Tibet and parts of Indian territory since the 1962 Indo-China war.

Strangely it is the same NATO block that had threatened to send its Armada into the Arabian sea and Indian ocean to browbeat India during the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war, only to be checkmated in the nick of the time by Russia.

If that was not enough, back on December 18, 1961, United States of America, France, Turkey and the United Kingdom had moved a resolution in the UNSC, pursuant to a complaint lodged by Portugal against India’s Goa Liberation operations. The US and its NATO allies had moved the resolution asking India to halt its military operations in Goa and return back to its earlier held positions.

What began as a security alliance of 12 nations across both the shores of the Atlantic Ocean has grown into an alliance of 30 countries. The alliance which was essentially restricted to the North Atlantic is now spread to Africa, Latin America, Mediterranean, Central Asia and Asia.

The NATO alliance has spread its sphere of influence and action through programs and partnerships like – Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), European Union, Partnership for Peace (PfP), former GUAM member states, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Mediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Cooperative Initiative (ICI).

The IPAP comprises countries like Georgia, Moldova and Serbia. The PfP includes countries like Belarus, Russia. European Union countries like Austria, Finland and Sweden. The former GUAM states like Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.

The Mediterranean Dialogue consists of states like – Egypt, Algeria, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. The Istanbul Cooperative Initiative includes countries like – Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates (UAE).

As against this the OSCE comprises of 57 countries and 11 partners for cooperation. The member countries include – Andorra, Croatia, Estonia, Mongolia and San Marino. Whereas, NATO’s Global Partners include countries from Latin America like Colombia, Japan, Iraq and New Zealand.

Given the kind of mandate that NATO enjoys both in terms of expanding its sphere of influence and military might that it carries, compared to it the UN appears to be a toothless tiger.