[tomder55]

NATO met Wednesday in Madrid and published a new strategic document for the alliance .

290622-strategic-concept.pdf (nato.int)

NATO updates it's strategic mission roughly every decade . The doc defines who is the enemy or threat and what NATO will do about it

The document defines Russia as the “most significant and direct threat” to Allies’ security .It also adds China as a new NATO mission.

Robbers of the world, having by their universal plunder exhausted the land, they rifle the deep. If the enemy be rich, they are rapacious; if he be poor, they lust for dominion; neither the east nor the west has been able to satisfy them. Alone among men they covet with equal eagerness poverty and riches. To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a solitude and call it peace.(Roman historian Tacitus )

The quote above could easily be about Russian tactics in Ukraine , But it is Putin that accuses NATO .

NATO is expanding beyond it's Cold War Borders right up to the Russian borders in the West ....and now threatens with the addition of Sweden and Finland to make the Baltic Sea a NATO lake .

In addition ,the document finds a new enemy for NATO in the PRC ( paragraph 13)

The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values. The PRC employs a broad range of political, economic and military tools to increase its global footprint and project power, while remaining opaque about its strategy, intentions and military build-up. The PRC’s malicious hybrid and cyber operations and its confrontational rhetoric and disinformation target Allies and harm Alliance security. The PRC seeks to control key technological and industrial sectors, critical infrastructure, and strategic materials and supply chains. It uses its economic leverage to create strategic dependencies and enhance its influence. It strives to subvert the rules-based international order, including in the space, cyber and maritime domains. The deepening strategic partnership between the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation and their mutually reinforcing attempts to undercut the rules-based international order run counter to our values and interests.

NATO has declared an existential conflict with Bejing .

Nixon and Kissinger attempted to split China from Russia . All this will do is deepen their co-dependency .

[jlisenbe]

NATO has declared an existential conflict with Bejing .

We used to have a saying when I was a kid. "Don't let your mouth overload your axx." Someone should tell NATO that their defense spending does not allow them to speak too large.

[tomder55]

Trump understood NATOs limitations . The Dems since Bubba (and the McCain wing of the Repubs ) do not understand it's limitations .

[jlisenbe]

One of these days we will run out of monopoly money. When that happens, our defense spending will begin to reflect our true economic situation. That will be a day of reckoning for NATO.

[tomder55]

NATO already has the resources without the US IF it was truly a Defensive alliance. Take for example naval assets . Removing the American fleet from the equation Europe has 5 carriers ;116 large surface warships ;66 submarines . Russia has 1 carrier ;30 large surface warships and 49 submarines . What we have learned in the Ukraine conflict is that surface ships are like battle ships in WWII .They can be easily defeated by long range rocket and drones. But the point is that in comarision to Russia ,Europe easily has the means to defend against Russian aggression on their own.

[jlisenbe]

They certainly have the means. The question is, do they have the will? Barring an outright attack by the Russkies, I doubt it, and nukes throw a significant challenge into the equation.

[tomder55]

This is inevitable

Arms sent to Ukraine will end up in criminal hands, says Interpol chief | Ukraine | The Guardian

Risk of weapons vanishing as over 20 countries send arms to Ukraine - Responsible Statecraft