We can always see "NATO" in the news, what kind of organization is it? Today for you to introduce in detail:
NATO is short for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and it is currently the largest military bloc in the world. It is an international military bloc established by the United States and the major developed countries in Western Europe and North America to achieve defense cooperation.
So why did the United States establish NATO with European countries? This goes back to the Cold War, which was a confrontation between a military alliance led by the United States and a military alliance led by the Soviet Union.
background
After World War II, in order to contain the Soviet Union and maintain its dominance in Europe, the United States signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington on April 4, 1949. On August 24 of the same year, NATO was officially established. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.
NATO Headquarters Building
NATO has a large number of nuclear weapons and conventional forces, and is an important military force of the West. This is a sign of the military strategic alliance of the capitalist camp after World War II, the extension and development of the Marshall Plan in the military field, which allowed the United States to control the defense system of the European Union, and the symbol of the leadership of the United States as a world superpower.
The Marshall Plan, officially known as the European Recovery Program, was a program of economic assistance and reconstruction by the United States to war-torn Western European countries after World War II, which had a profound impact on the development of European countries and the world political landscape.
Marshall plans to exit the cage
The program was officially launched in July 1947 and lasted for four financial years. During this period, Western European countries, through their participation in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in Europe (OECD), received a total of $13.15 billion in various forms of U.S. aid, including finance, technology, and equipment, of which 90% were grants and 10% were loans.
Symbolic logo - flag
The NATO flag was adopted in 1954. The dark blue base of the flag represents the Atlantic Ocean, the circle represents unity, and the compass symbolizes the common goal of peace among the member states.
NATO flag
Members
THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY HAS 30 MEMBER STATES: BELGIUM, ICELAND, DENMARK, GERMANY, FRANCE, NETHERLANDS, CANADA, LUXEMBOURG, UNITED STATES, NORWAY, PORTUGAL, TURKEY, SPAIN, GREECE, ITALY, UNITED KINGDOM, POLAND, HUNGARY, CZECH REPUBLIC, ESTONIA, LATVIA, LITHUANIA, SLOVAKIA, SLOVENIA, ROMANIA, BULGARIA, ALBANIA, CROATIA, MONTENEGRO AND NORTH MACEDONIA.
NATO member states
Organizational structure
North Atlantic Council, International Secretariat, Military Commission, North Atlantic Parliament.
History
On April 4, 1949, the United States, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Portugal, and Italy signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington. The Convention provides that an armed attack on either State party shall be considered an attack on all States parties. This provision shows that NATO is entirely a military alliance organization.
Many small countries have joined NATO, and in addition to their economic interests, they have also chosen to join NATO under this clause. However, there are advantages and disadvantages, the disadvantage is that as long as it becomes a member of NATO, it means giving up its own national defense, the United States can not only station troops in this country, establish military bases, but also deploy various weapons in this country, including missiles, which means that the country has abandoned the principle of independence and autonomy and has completely become a protectorate of the United States.
In 1955, the Soviet Union united with Albania, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary and other countries to establish the Warsaw Pact, referred to as the Warsaw Pact. The establishment of the two major military organizations also meant the escalation of the Cold War. With the weakening of the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact was officially dissolved in July 1991. Theoretically, the Warsaw Pact was dissolved, the Cold War was over, and NATO lost its meaning of existence, and it should also be dissolved. However, the NATO countries led by the United States not only did not disband NATO, but on the contrary, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, they continued to absorb the former Warsaw Pact member states to join.
In September 1996, NATO published the Study on the Eastward Expansion Plan.
In March 1999, NATO first included the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland as members. In March 2004, seven countries, including Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, became full members of NATO. This is NATO's eastward expansion. NATO's eastward expansion is an inevitable product of the period of transformation of The European strategic pattern after the Cold War, and its reasons are complex, including the factors of hegemony of major countries and the factors of small countries seeking "protective umbrellas"; there are factors of unbalanced economic development, nationalism, religious beliefs, and other factors.
NATO's eastward expansion effectively violated its commitment to the Soviet Union, because on march 6, 1991, on the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France, and Germany met in Bonn, Germany, promising the Soviet Union that NATO would not continue its eastward expansion from eastern Germany. So when NATO continued to expand eastward, Russian President Vladimir Putin once said angrily: "NATO promised us that it would not expand eastward by an inch, which everyone knows, and now we see where NATO is?" Poland, Romania, Baltic States. They say one set and do one set. As people say, they played us. Yes, they lied to us with lies. ”
Russian President Vladimir Putin opposes NATO's eastward expansion
Break off cooperation with Russia
On April 1, 2014, NATO announced the temporary suspension of normal cooperation with Russia.
At the NATO foreign ministers' meeting held on the same day, attended by the acting foreign minister of Ukraine, NATO and Ukraine issued a joint statement. Nato decided to break all cooperation with Russia on the civilian and military fronts and continue exchanges only at the NATO-Russia Council level to resolve the Ukraine crisis, the joint statement said.
NATO and Ukraine also said in a joint statement that the two sides should strengthen cooperation and NATO will assist Ukraine in reforming its defense system. The two sides also expressed that they do not recognize the legitimacy of Crimea's accession to Russia and still hope to resolve Ukraine's current territorial issues through political and diplomatic channels.
This extends to the cause and essence of the current Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which is the conflict between Russia and NATO.
What role does NATO play in member states?
It can be said that it plays a great role in NATO member states, such as the 1982 Anglo-Armagh War, because the United Kingdom and France are both NATO members, the United Kingdom said hello to France to cut off the supply of Flying Fish missiles to Argentina, the United States has always supported the United Kingdom, the Arms Embargo on Argentina, this tacit cooperation is the important role of NATO.
Although NATO has played an active role in its own member states, it has acted as an executioner for countries other than its member states. The wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yugoslavia, and U.S. military and paramilitary actions such as pressure on Iran are inseparable from NATO's help to the United States, which shows that the United States not only controlled Europe's defense system through NATO, but also established its own global hegemony.
In particular, from March 24 to June 10, 1999, NATO carried out large-scale airstrikes against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia without the authorization of the United Nations Security Council. In addition to the United States and Canada, all 13 allies in Western Europe participated except for Greece, which does not advocate the use of force because of its own interests. Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Portugal 10 countries directly involved in the war, Iceland, Luxembourg, although there is no air force, but also through the financing or provision of airports and other forms of support, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden and other traditional neutral countries also expressed support for NATO operations. NATO's 78-day bombardment of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia caused staggering damage. According to incomplete statistics from the Serbian government, in that large-scale airstrike, more than 25,000 houses, 14 airports, 39 health care facilities, 18 kindergartens, 69 schools, 176 cultural monuments, 44 bridges, 470 kilometers of roads and 595 kilometers of railways were blown up, resulting in direct economic losses of tens of billions of dollars; the airstrikes killed more than 2,500 people and injured more than 12,500 people, which is a major crime committed by NATO.
NATO attack on Yugoslavia
President Of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin issued a statement strongly condemning NATO's air strikes on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, accusing it of being an open act of aggression, and decided to immediately freeze relations with NATO, recall Russian military representatives in NATO, and suspend participation in NATO's "Partnership for Peace Program."
On March 24, 2021, several events were held throughout Serbia to mourn the victims of NATO's bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 22 years ago. Serbian President Vucic said: "Serbia will never forget what happened back then. NATO's attacks on sovereign states without the authorization of the UN Security Council are horrific crimes and aggressions aimed at killing and humiliating us and ultimately seizing our territory. In that 78-day attack, 2,500 civilians, including 79 children, were killed. ”
Not only has Serbia not forgotten, we have not forgotten how NATO bullied us.
In 1999, at 11:45 p.m. Belgrade time on May 7 (5:45 a.m. Beijing time on the 8th), NATO led by the United States brazenly bombed the Chinese Embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Xinhua News Agency reporter Shao Yunhuan, Guangming Daily reporter Xu Xinghu and Zhu Ying were killed on the spot, and dozens of people were injured.
NATO bombs the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia
Compatriots killed
This was a deliberate bombing by NATO, but NATO slyly argued that it was a mistaken bombing and refused to admit its crime.
On February 24, 2022, Hua Chunying, spokesperson of the Mainland Foreign Ministry, condemned NATO at a news conference, mentioning that 23 years ago, NATO bombed the mainland embassy in Yugoslavia for no reason. Hua Chunying said: "Just over 20 years ago, the Chinese Embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was bombed by NATO, causing three Chinese journalists to die and many people were injured, and NATO still owes a blood debt to the Chinese people. ”
The crimes that NATO once committed against the Chinese people can never be forgotten.
Nato has been established for more than 70 years, and nato has not played a positive role in world peace since its establishment, on the contrary, most of the conflicts and tense situations in the world are related to it.