{"id":239382,"date":"2023-07-17T12:01:45","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T11:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=239382"},"modified":"2023-07-16T09:55:15","modified_gmt":"2023-07-16T08:55:15","slug":"the-us-nordic-summit-nato-expansion-confusion-and-repetition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/07\/the-us-nordic-summit-nato-expansion-confusion-and-repetition\/","title":{"rendered":"The US-Nordic Summit: NATO Expansion, Confusion and Repetition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_239384\" style=\"width: 460px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/nato-uncle-sam-europe-russia-cartoon-Global-Times.webp\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-239384\" class=\"wp-image-239384\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/nato-uncle-sam-europe-russia-cartoon-Global-Times.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/nato-uncle-sam-europe-russia-cartoon-Global-Times.webp 701w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/nato-uncle-sam-europe-russia-cartoon-Global-Times-300x178.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-239384\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">By Liu Rui &#8211; Global Times<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>13 Jul 2023 &#8211; <\/em>After the NATO Summit in Vilnius, a US-Nordic Summit took place in Helsinki today. Here is, first, what I would suggest the US, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland take up:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How to back out of NATO\u2019s conflict with Russia, stop the war in Russia and move \u2013 with the use of UN peace-keeping and -mediation \u2013 towards a viable, sustainable solution to Ukraine\u2019s security problem that all parties can live with \u2013 although perhaps not be happy with.<\/li>\n<li>How to re-create the Arctic as a de-militarised, low-tension region and cooperate to the benefit of all parties and the fragile environment.<\/li>\n<li>How to secure that none of the Nordic countries shall have any US bases (except the one in Thule, Greenland, which by the way was not invited) \u2013 so to not provoke Russia unnecessarily.<br \/>\nGiven the Nordic countries\u2019 historically comparatively peaceful policies, how can the Nordic region within NATO help to avoid heightened tensions and warfare with Russia \u2013 how can it be signalled most effectively that they do not seek confrontation and war?<\/li>\n<li>Also given that background, how could these countries initiate an all-European dialogue, based on a series of diverse expert analyses, about a new peace and security (in that order) European system?<\/li>\n<li>How can they help move the world in the direction of a politically and normatively strong UN, general and complete disarmament and nuclear abolition also to support the world\u2019s most important organisation and its Charter: The United Nations?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">You get the gist.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">I list it merely because it is extremely important these days to think of alternatives to the ongoing rampant NATO militarism, re-think the triumphalistic, provocative NATO expansion and refer to words and concepts that were important some years ago and are now totally cancelled \u2013 like peace, cooperation, common security, reconciliation and media diversity \u2013 from the Western discourse.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to the US\/Nordic Summit, very little was stated anywhere about its purpose and content. They met the day after they also met at Vilnius, where their blind-to-consequences support to the war in Ukraine against Russia was repeated while they de facto <a href=\"https:\/\/transnational.live\/2023\/07\/12\/nato-in-vilnius-youre-out-ukraine-one-more-pr-event-on-the-way-to-split-and-dissolution\/\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">decided in reality that it shall never join NATO<\/a> \u2013 that\u2019s what it means to talk about unspecified \u2018conditions\u2019 that Ukraine must meet after it has won the war.<\/p>\n<p>So it must be assumed that when President Biden went to Finland, it was a signalling and photo opportunity operation mixed with some substantial Nordic issues.<\/p>\n<p>Undoubtedly, the Nordic countries\u2019 forward role in militarising the Arctic further has been on the agenda.<\/p>\n<p>He has likely thanked Finland for already negotiating US bases near the Finnish-Russian border, Denmark for negotiating US bases, and Norway for having them already. The US that declines on civilian indicators but re-arms militarily will always push for more military tools anywhere \u2013 some 600 bases in 130 countries is never enough, like the next beer is never the last for the alcoholic.<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Biden must also have asked the Nordic leaders to secure that the Nordic countries and their media never mention Nord Stream again, the pipeline he himself stated that the US would destroy. He is likely to have mentioned that the US would appreciate if the Nordic press is muted on this issue; had it been Russia, they would have had full blast concerning this the largest infrastructure destruction in peacetime (and it would have been highlighted in Vilnius).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">And he has surely expressed his pleasure that the leading mainstream media in the Nordic countries are all solidly pro-NATO and anti-Russia.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">[Here I wrote <em>mistakenly <\/em>three days ago: \u201cA major concern at this Summit will, of course, be Sweden\u2019s NATO membership hanging in the air \u2013 for what I believe will be a long time. T\u00fcrkiye hosted and supported terrorists operating in Syria and stole everything of value in Aleppo; now President Erdogan piously speaks about how unacceptable it is that Sweden hosts terrorists. And Sweden continues to accept Quran burnings in the name of freedom of expression. Sweden\u2019s ill-considered, panicking membership application to NATO with only 47% of the people in favour, has already brought it more potential insecurity than at any time since 1945. But the Swedes, I happen to know, won\u2019t protest. (The French are better at such things!)\u201d]<br \/>\nWell, President Erdogan changed his mind three times within the 24 hours of the 11-12th of July and finally accepted Sweden in NATO, so\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Biden must surely also have wanted to hear from his European whether they fear major social upheaval. The longer the war in Ukraine lasts, the more the Europeans will feel the price hikes, the reduction in benefit and life quality. When will they begin to link <em>that<\/em> to the EU\/NATO response to the Russian invasion?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Whatever the judgements he received, he will likely continue to put pressure on all to weaken Russia and then direct the wartime EU economies that will be created towards China.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Predictably, Russia\u2019s invasion \u2013 while understandable from a historical perspective but still ill-considered and international law-breaking \u2013 has functioned as a huge gift to NATO. If Putin fell into NATO\u2019s expansion provocation trap, Finland and Sweden fell into the NATO hysteria\/fear-mongering trap; they moved, in the heat of a moment and without in-depth analysis, into something they will not get out of before the US Empire \u2013 and with it NATO \u2013 declines further and dissolves like its Eastern brother did a good thirty years ago.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">A bit of cool, prudent statesmanship, more knowledge and experience could have avoided it all.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Russia never was and still is not a threat to the Nordic countries, no matter what calm hysterics may say about the formidable threat of Russia (soon down to 4-5% of NATO\u2019s military expenditures) and Ukraine as a first of many dominos to fall.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">It\u2019s all beyond rationality and common sense. None o<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">f it bears on a balanced assessment of Nordic, European and global realities, but it <em>does<\/em> serve US\/NATO psycho-political projection and manipulation by \u2019fearology\u2019, i.e. selling politics by making the masses fear \u2013 and pay.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The Nordic security elites will not confront the US; they\u2019ll be more loyal to Washington than to their own peoples\u2019 traditional preference for civilian conflict-resolution and disarmament.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">In sum, the US\/Nordic Summit will come, and it will go. Nothing new will happen. These \u2019groupthink\u2019 elites inside militarism\u2019s box will neither see the short- nor long-term writing on the wall. So don\u2019t expect changes in their cul-de-sac policies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 13.7pt 0in 13.7pt 0in;\"><i>__________________________________________<\/i><\/p>\n<p><em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/page\/202307\/1294327.shtml\" >Original article, <\/a><\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/page\/202307\/1294327.shtml\" >Global Times, <\/a><em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/page\/202307\/1294327.shtml\" >13 Jul 2023<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 13.7pt 0in; padding-left: 40px;\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/JanOberg-scaled-e1596967349638.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-166625\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/JanOberg-scaled-e1596967349638.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"143\" \/><\/a> Prof. Jan Oberg, Ph.D. is director of the <\/em><span style=\"color: blue;\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/transnational.live\/\" ><i><span style=\"text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;\">Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, TFF<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/span><em> and a member of the <\/em><span style=\"color: blue;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/\" ><i><span style=\"text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;\">TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/span><em>. CV: <\/em><span style=\"color: blue;\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/transnational.live\/jan-oberg\" ><i><span style=\"text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;\">https:\/\/transnational.live\/jan-oberg<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/span><i><br \/>\n<\/i><span style=\"color: blue;\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/transnational.live\/\" ><i><span style=\"text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;\">https:\/\/transnational.live<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" style=\"line-height: normal; margin: 13.7pt 0in 13.7pt 0in;\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/transnational.live\/2023\/07\/13\/the-us-nordic-summit-nato-expansion-confusion-and-repetition\/\" >Go to Original \u2013 transnational.live<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>13 Jul 2023 &#8211; It is extremely important to think of alternatives to the ongoing NATO militarism, re-think its triumphalistic, provocative expansion, and refer to words and concepts cancelled from the Western discourse: peace, cooperation, common security, reconciliation, media diversity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":166625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[2914,1778,433,1268,1126,1050,91,2831,70],"class_list":["post-239382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members","tag-anti-nato","tag-conflict-analysis","tag-europe","tag-european-union","tag-hegemony","tag-imperialism","tag-nato","tag-scandinavia","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239382"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239393,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239382\/revisions\/239393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}