The NATO summit in Madrid ends with a stronger, more numerous alliance and – as in the old and unrepented days – with a clear enemy: Russia. “Putin — said US President Joe Biden, who announced a new $800 million military aid package yesterday — has achieved the opposite of what he set out to do: more NATO on their borders and a more united West. I do not know how and when the war will end, but Ukraine will certainly not be defeated.
As for China, the new “strategic concept,” which hasn’t been updated since 2010, takes it into account for the first time, saying that “Beijing’s declared ambitions and coercive measures challenge our interests, our security, and our values.” While Russia “poses a direct threat to Europe,” China is “singling out the rules-based world order,” attacking Biden.
It is no coincidence that Moscow and Beijing are thundering. “An Iron Curtain is emerging again between Russia and the West,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Beijing is even tougher: “NATO is the real systemic challenge to world peace and stability: it claims to be a regional defense organization, but in reality it continues to start wars everywhere and kill innocent civilians.” Satisfied Turkish President Erdogan who, in order to overturn the veto on Finland and Sweden’s NATO accession – the summit’s key result – obtained a tripartite memorandum in which the two Scandinavian countries agree to end the PKK terrorists to be sent back and what the Gülen organization wanted: it is a betrayal of the Kurds (yet another one), but the main item on NATO’s agenda is opposition to Russia. And for this the Kurds were sacrificed. The new stance agreed at the Madrid summit – with 300,000 troops deployable in 30 days and new departments and bases in Eastern Europe – will come at a heavy cost, and all states will need to update their commitments for the 2024-2034 decade, increasing their defense spending to at least 2% of GDP as announced by the UK. That too is a Putin tax. The defense industry thanks the citizens of NATO countries less heartily.
Alessandro Farruggia