{"id":301543,"date":"2025-08-25T12:00:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T11:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=301543"},"modified":"2025-08-20T06:23:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T05:23:16","slug":"natos-imperialist-march-and-its-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2025\/08\/natos-imperialist-march-and-its-victims\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO\u2019s Imperialist March and Its Victims"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Anti-NATO – Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, Untitled, 2025<\/p><\/div>\n

NATO\u2019s relentless expansion must stop. On its path of self-destruction, it risks dragging the rest of us down with it. The time has come to embrace a new global order \u2014 one built on cooperation, equality, and peace, writes\u00a0<\/em>Biljana Vankovska<\/em><\/a> for <\/em>the 21st Annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the summer of 1999, just months after NATO bombed an independent country (then Yugoslavia) without the authorisation of the UN Security Council, I attended a lecture by the late Prof. Johan Galtung, the father of peace research. Known for his integrity and intellectual courage, he didn\u2019t mince words. He said bluntly: \u201cThis world has a problem. That problem has a name, and its name is: the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadly, 25 years later, his words feel more prophetic than ever. Ukraine is just one example among many. After the supposed end of the Cold War, the US cast itself as the ultimate peacemaker and global champion of democracy. Yet rather than being disbanded, the North Atlantic Alliance, now no longer stopped by the USSR or the Warsaw pact, pursued relentless expansion under the guise of spreading peace and democracy.<\/p>\n

This Leviathan now seems intent on transforming into a \u201cglobal NATO\u201d \u2014 in other words, on rendering the United Nations obsolete. So far, it has succeeded in making many of us believe that the UN is irrelevant and powerless.<\/p>\n

Another key lesson in peace research I learned from Galtung was his approach to conflict analysis: the conflict triangle. To understand the underlying causes of a conflict, one must identify three key elements: 1) the attitudes (A) of the actors involved, 2) their behaviour (B), and 3) the contradiction (C). The contradiction\u2014essentially the conflict itself\u2014arises from the incompatible values or goals between the actors. Furthermore, meaningful conflict analysis requires three steps: diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy.<\/p>\n

Sadly, it feels as though the world is at such a dark hour that even correct diagnoses and sound prognoses have proven futile. They failed to prevent the crisis in Ukraine, not to mention other devastating conflicts \u2014 like the ongoing genocide in Palestine. In the rush to focus on therapy \u2014how to end the violence \u2014 we find ourselves caught in a disturbing paradox: In today\u2019s Orwellian atmosphere, especially within the so-called \u201ccollective West,\u201d those who advocate for ceasefires, negotiations, or diplomatic solutions are treated with suspicion or even hostility. As independent journalist Aaron Mat\u00e9 aptly put it: \u201cIn NATO state media, there\u2019s nothing more \u2018controversial\u2019 than a peace proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n

This resistance to peace is nothing new. In 1982, Jonathan Schell warned in his seminal book on the consequences of nuclear war that \u201cwe have found it much easier to dig our own graves than to think about the fact that we are doing so.\u201d Sadly, in Macedonia\u2014one of the newest and smallest NATO member states\u2014any serious discussion of the deeper causes of ongoing conflicts, or the resurgence of nuclear threats, has become taboo. The public discourse remains narrowly focused on day-to-day military developments and strategic manoeuvres, while the deeper structural issues that brought us to this point are left unexamined.<\/p>\n

The need for reflection, diplomacy, and sustainable solutions has never been more urgent \u2014 yet it seems harder than ever to pursue them. <\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If I were to speak as Johan Galtung often did, I would now rephrase his statement: This world has a problem, and its name is the West \u2014 NATO being merely the instrument of its imperial ambition. Unfortunately, many post-socialist states were led to believe that NATO membership guarantees peace and security. For many, NATO has become \u201cThat Obscure Object of Desire\u201d (borrowing the title of Bu\u00f1uel\u2019s masterpiece) \u2014 the more intense the desire, the higher the price paid to achieve membership.<\/p>\n

Few people realise the parallels between Ukraine and Macedonia when it comes to their political trajectories. Both gained independence after the collapse of socialist federations, both sit on sensitive geopolitical frontlines that the West is determined to control at all costs, and both fell victim to so-called \u201ccolour revolutions.\u201d In Macedonia\u2019s case, the regime change \u2014 portrayed as a democratic uprising \u2014 resulted in the country losing its name, constitutional sovereignty, and identity, though it eventually secured NATO membership. Ukraine, however, risks losing everything unless the world embraces peace talks and negotiations, as proposed by BRICS in the recent Kazan Declaration.<\/p>\n

I would even go so far as to say that the outcome of the conflict in Ukraine will determine the future of global peace and security. The stakes couldn\u2019t be higher.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s tiresome to even discuss the West\u2019s double standards \u2014 especially now, when a genocide is not just tolerated but openly supported. Yet, let me offer an intriguing example of how the West deals with its vassal states. When Macedonia was coerced into signing the so-called Prespa Agreement \u2014 sacrificing its name and identity in exchange for NATO enlargement \u2014 the most quoted phrase was Thucydides\u2019: \u201cThe strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when it comes to Ukraine, the narrative shifts dramatically: suddenly, there\u2019s talk of a possible military victory against a far stronger opponent. The message? Don\u2019t give up, fight to the last Ukrainian! Struggle is not only moral but achievable! Meanwhile, Macedonia capitulated \u2014 and now finds itself dragged into a conflict the population never wanted.<\/p>\n

NATO was supposed to ensure peace, prosperity, and even identity security for its members. But in Ukraine\u2019s case, the West is gambling with existential stakes \u2014 pushing toward the terrifying brink of nuclear escalation. <\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the early days of the Special Military Operation (SMO) in February 2022, the OSCE network of security institutes \u2014 where I represent my Faculty \u2014 convened a virtual meeting to discuss possible responses. As a scholar from a country preparing to assume the OSCE chairmanship, I was personally asked to contribute a piece. Expectedly, my analysis was quickly dismissed. Why? Because I described the conflict as a proxy war between the West (NATO, USA, EU\u2014take your pick) and Russia. I argued that the war in Ukraine was not only the most predictable conflict in recent history but had also been the easiest to prevent \u2014 if the Western leaders had not pursued a hidden agenda. Then again, that agenda wasn\u2019t all that hidden \u2014 Moscow saw it coming from miles away, and rightfully so.<\/p>\n

This episode is just one illustration of the impotence and Western bias embedded in the current European security architecture. As mentioned earlier, the UN is being portrayed as an incurable patient on its deathbed. Meanwhile, the EU \u2014 despite being a Nobel Peace Prize laureate \u2014functions more like a civilian arm of NATO, or rather, a colony of the declining American empire.<\/p>\n

Right now, much attention is focused on the outcome of the US elections, as if the person occupying the White House could make a real difference. But the reality is that the military-industrial-media-academic-entertainment complex thrives on war. Expecting anything good or effective from Washington \u2014 or its allies \u2014 would be wishful thinking at best.<\/p>\n

Let me conclude: there is a solution for this ailing world. That solution has a name \u2014 the World Majority. This emerging coalition has already demonstrated its resolve by calling for an end to the Ukraine conflict and supporting Palestine\u2019s recognition as an independent and equal state within the UN. Its name is BRICS.<\/p>\n

For any meaningful change, NATO\u2019s relentless expansion must stop. On its path of self-destruction, it risks dragging the rest of us down with it. The time has come to embrace a new global order\u2014one built on cooperation, equality, and peace.<\/p>\n

_______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Biljana Vankovska –<\/em> Professor, Board Member of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research (Lund, Sweden).<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 valdaiclub.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the summer of 1999, months after NATO bombed Yugoslavia, I attended a lecture by Prof. Johan Galtung, the father of peace research. Known for his integrity and intellectual courage, he didn\u2019t mince words: \u201cThis world has a problem. That problem has a name, and its name is: the United States of America.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":299107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3102],"tags":[2914,960,2768,809,291,91,826,70,2991],"class_list":["post-301543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nato","tag-anti-nato","tag-balkans","tag-conflict-studies","tag-johan-galtung","tag-military","tag-nato","tag-peace-studies","tag-usa","tag-yugoslavia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301543","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=301543"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":301545,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301543\/revisions\/301545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}