News, September 2003, www.aljazeerah.info
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Neo-imperialism institutionalized: NATO Eyes Mideast as its new center of gravity
Jordan Times, Al-Jazeerah
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Prodded by the US doctrine of preemption, the North Atlantic alliance signalled Sunday its determination to refocus its activities on the developing world in order to root out suspected terrorist cells in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere.
“The centre of gravity for the last 50 years in the alliance has been in Western Europe,” NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, General James Jones, told Newsweek magazine.
“But the centre of activity is, in my perspective, moving east, and I think its not an understatement to say that the geostrategic center of interest for the foreseeable future has to be the greater Middle East.” The comments come as the Western Alliance, credited with winning the cold war, is undertaking the most sweeping transformation since the end of the superpower standoff with the now-defunct Warsaw Pact.
In a major expansion of its geographical sphere of operation, NATO has assumed control of an allied military operation in Afghanistan designed to keep Taleban and Al Qaeda force at bay. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last week that the size and shape of “the US footprint,” or deployment posture, in the world will evolve to reflect new security requirements of the 21st century.
He did not offer details, but Jones made clear the alliance intended to establish a presence far beyond Afghanistan and the Middle East — and was expected to move into Africa.
Al-Jazeerah Commentary:
It seems that NATO finally declared itself as officially part of the neo-imperialistic campaign in the Third World, particularly in the Arab and Muslim Worlds.
The Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact disappeared. There are no more inter-European security problems. Now is the time to head to the petroland in the Middle East.
The neo-conservative crusade against Muslims and Arabs is now joined officially by NATO.
Instead of stopping the Israeli aggression and forcing Israel to withdraw from occupied Palestine, NATO is really fighting Israel's battle to extend and maintain its hegemony in the Middle East towards the realization of Greater Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates.
Apparently, the French have lost the battle of maintaining a European position independent from the dominant pro-Israel, neo-imperialistic mood inside the North Atlantic Alliance.
Should we expect more invasions of Muslim countries, under the pretext of terrorism or weapons of mass destruction? Anybody's guess.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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