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15 August 2010 By Rick Rozoff On August 4 the chairman of the NATO Military
Committee, Italian Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola,
concluded an official visit to Australia during which
he met with the nation’s acting Chief of Defence and
officials from the Department of Defence. The North
Atlantic Treaty Organization, despite its name, has
strayed far from its point of origin 61 years ago,
extending its grasp from North America and Western
Europe to Asia and the South Pacific. Di Paola’s deliberations with his Australian
counterparts centered on “the need for NATO to work
together with strategic partners like Australia, given
that Euro-Atlantic security is more and more
interconnected to Euro-Asian and Asian-Pacific
regions.” Australia is the largest troop contributor among
non-NATO states to the Alliance’s war effort in South
Asia, providing 1,550 troops for NATO’s International
Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. In an address he delivered at the Australian
National University in Canberra, the head of NATO’s
top military body (whose first head was General Omar
Bradley) spoke on the bloc’s “New Strategic Concept
and the relationship with Global Partners”: “In this new context, because of the
vulnerabilities created by globalization and the rapid
pace at which it occurred, it is all the more
essential for us to maintain global connectivity if we
are to successfully tackle 21st Century challenges and
trends.” [1] NATO, the world’s only and history’s first
international military bloc, now counts among its
members and global partners at least 70 nations on
five continents, and has troops from seven
Asia-Pacific nations (Australia, Malaysia, Mongolia,
New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Tonga) serving
under its command in Afghanistan. It has expanded from the northern Atlantic Ocean
region over the equator to the Antipodes and the reach
of its operations extends from the Arctic Ocean to the
Antarctic, from Africa’s Gulf of Guinea to the Gulf of
Mexico, the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Aden. As Admiral Di Paola maintains, securing the safety
of Washington and Brussels requires the expansion of a
U.S.-dominated military alliance into “the Euro-Asian
and Asian-Pacific regions.” Having subdued and
subordinated almost all of Europe through membership
and partnership expansion over the last eleven years,
at its Lisbon summit this November NATO will formalize
its 21st century Strategic Concept in respect to
placing the European continent under a U.S.-controlled
interceptor missile system and expanding military
partnerships into those corners of the planet so far
left unincorporated into the network of the global,
expeditionary military formation among other
initiatives. NATO troop deployments, utilization and upgrading
of bases, armed combat operations, air patrols, naval
surveillance and interdiction, armed forces training
programs and regular military exercises now occur on
the borders and off the coasts of China (Afghanistan,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Tajikistan), Iran
(Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Pakistan,
Qatar, Turkey, Turkmenistan and the United Arab
Emirates) and Russia (Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia,
Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine).
There are no longer buffer states between the Western
military alliance and major non-NATO nations in
Eurasia. At the same time the Pentagon is escalating at an
unparalleled pace military provocations near China –
the recently concluded Invincible Spirit war games in
the Sea of Japan with the nuclear-powered supercarrier
USS George Washington, the same aircraft carrier
docking in central Vietnam along with the guided
missile destroyer USS John S. McCain on August 8 for
unprecedented naval exercises in the South China Sea,
the Pentagon announcing that the George Washington
will soon enter the Yellow Sea near China’s coastline
– and leading the largest-ever Khaan Quest military
exercises in Mongolia with the participation of, for
the first time, troops from fellow NATO nations
Germany and Canada along with France, as well as four
Asian NATO candidates that were included in Khaan
Quest 2009: India, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
Mongolia shares borders with China and Russia. Russia, China and Iran are the only major nations
outside Latin America that serve as serious barriers
to American worldwide military expansion and
dominance. By driving into former Soviet territory in
the Caspian Sea basin and Central Asia, the Pentagon
and NATO are completing their military advance on all
three nations. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are situated
in a compact zone between China, Iran and Russia, and
all but Uzbekistan border one or more of the three
nations. Notwithstanding the deadly upheavals in Kyrgyzstan
this April and June, the U.S. and NATO have
substantially increased the deployment of troops – at
least 50,000 a month – and equipment through the
nation for the West’s 150,000-troop, nine-year war in
Afghanistan. Washington and Brussels have activated
the Northern Distribution Network to transport
supplies to the Afghan war front from ports on the
Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas through the Caucasus
and Central Asia, pulling Azerbaijan and the five
Central Asian states deeper into the Western military
phalanx. This year leading Pentagon, State Department and
NATO officials have paid visits to Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan,
including the first trip by a U.S. secretary of
defense in five years and a secretary of state in
eighteen years to the first-named state. In April
President Obama secured military overflight and
transit rights from his Kazakh opposite number,
President Nursultan Nazarbayev, in a nation adjoining
China and Russia. U.S. ambassador-designate to Azerbaijan, preeminent
post-Soviet space hand Matthew Bryza, told the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee on July 20 that his future
host country, “located at the crossroads of Europe,
the Middle East, and Central Asia, and bordering
Iran,” immediately after September 11, 2001 “offered
us unlimited overflights…for our military aircraft.” He added: “Today, Azerbaijan continues to provide
valuable overflight, refueling, and landing rights for
U.S. and coalition aircraft bound for Afghanistan. “Azerbaijan has also contributed troops to U.S. and
coalition military operations in Afghanistan, as well
as Kosovo and Iraq….Azerbaijan has also remained a
steadfast supporter of Israel.” [2] At the same hearing the ranking member of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar,
connected the war in Afghanistan and beyond with
America’s trans-Eurasian energy campaign against
Russia and Iran: Troops and military equipment go to
the east and oil and natural gas to the west by the
same route. “I am concerned that the continuing absence of a
Senate-confirmed US representative there [Azerbaijan]
could impede progress toward several US national
security goals. Our Committee has worked closely with
our Envoy for Eurasian Energy, Ambassador Richard
Morningstar, to promote the expansion of the Nabucco
pipeline, the key element of a southern energy
corridor that would stretch from the Caspian region to
Europe. “Progress on this measure will allow our allies to
diversify energy supplies, while providing nations in
the region with a focus for closer cooperation. The
Nabucco pipeline’s commercial and political viability
will depend on both Azerbaijan’s commitment of its
indigenous resources and its willingness to serve as a
transport hub for Central Asian energy across the
Caspian from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and possibly
other countries. “A close partnership with Azerbaijan and other
nations in the South Caucasus will also be essential
to ensure the transit of supplies to our troops in the
Middle East and to resolve complex disputes concerning
the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.” [3] Reinhard Mitschek, managing director of Nabucco Gas
Pipeline International GmbH in charge of the Western
natural gas project from Kazakhstan to Europe,
underscored Lugar’s point this June in stating “Europe
is interested in the purchasing of natural gas from
Azerbaijan, Egypt, Iraq and Turkmenistan via the
Nabucco pipeline. We came into agreement. Iran’s
participation in this project is not a point at
issue.” [4] In the same month Agence France-Presse quoted the
U.S. ambassador to Tajikistan, Ken Gross, confirming
that the Pentagon plans to construct a new military
facility in the Central Asian nation: “The plan
[includes] almost $10 million to build [a] national
training center for the Tajik armed forces.” The new
base is to be called the Karatag National Training
Center and, according to Gross, could house U.S.
military personnel. [5] The August 7 edition of the Washington Post
substantiated earlier reports that the U.S. plans to
establish a comparable base in Kyrgyzstan, which like
Tajikistan borders China. The article revealed that “The United States is
planning to move ahead with construction of a $10
million military training base in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, the
site of a bloody uprising in June….Called the Osh
Polygon, the base was first proposed under former
Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev as a facility to
train Kyrgyz troops for counterterrorism operations.
After the ouster of Bakiyev…discussions continued
under the new Kyrgyz president, Roza Otunbayeva, with
whose government Washington is trying to broaden
relationships…Osh Polygon will consist of a secure
garrison compound with officers’ quarters and barracks
for enlisted personnel, plus range facilities, firing
pistols, rifles, crew-served weapons and explosive
ordnance….” [6] Earlier this month the EurasiaNet website posted a
feature titled “Is the U.S. Violating Turkmenistan’s
Neutrality with the NDN?” Quoting a Russian source,
the piece describes the role of the U.S. and NATO
Northern Distribution Network (NDN) in the Turkmen
capital: “U.S. freight transited through Ashgabat is
in fact military in nature and even constitutes
criminal contraband. Airport employees claim they saw
armored vehicles, combat helicopters and crates of
ammunition. These reports challenge both the notion of
Turkmen neutrality and the supposed nature of the
bilateral agreement between Turkmenistan and the U.S.” Turkmenistan is a member of the NATO Partnership
for Peace program, but its government doesn’t
acknowledge supporting U.S. war efforts in Afghanistan
and Iraq, not to mention those being prepared against
Iran, its neighbor to the north. However, “The U.S. has gained access to use almost
all the military airfields of Turkmenistan, including
the airport in Nebit-Dag near the Iranian border,
which was reconstructed at American expense. In
September 2004, at the Mary-2 airfield, U.S. military
experts appeared and began reconstructing the facility
with the help of Arab construction companies, which
provoked the protest of Moscow….An American military
contingent is located in Ashgabat to oversee the
operations related to refueling of military airplanes.
NATO is also trying to open up a land corridor to
bring freight by road and rail….” [7] With regards to Uzbekistan, where German NATO
troops remain at the Termez airbase although the U.S.
military was ousted in 2005, Leonid Gusev of the
Moscow State Institute of International Relations was
cited last month maintaining that “The U.S. is
interested in close cooperation with Uzbekistan, as
the Central Asian country is strategically important
for the U.S.” and that “Uzbek authorities have
recently strengthened cooperation with the U.S. and
other Western countries.” Gusev added: “Now non-military goods are delivered
through Uzbekistan to Afghanistan for NATO troops. “There is a free industrial and economic zone, ‘Navoi,’
in Uzbekistan on the border with Afghanistan. It is
the main transit point for shipments of goods to
Afghanistan. “This zone may soon be transformed into a
transcontinental forwarding air point, which will link
the Far East, South-East Asia, South Asia and
Europe….[T]he U.S. plans to build a new military base
near the Uzbek border to turn Uzbekistan into an
important transit point for access to Last week Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
hosted Afghan and Tajik presidents Hamid Karzai and
Emomali Rahmon in Tehran and, according to a Reuters
report, “Iran’s president told the leaders of
Afghanistan and Tajikistan…that the three neighbors
could provide a counterweight to NATO in Asia once
foreign troops quit the region.” Advice that China and
Russia would also be wise to heed. Ahmadinejad was quoted during a meeting with his
counterparts stating “The Europeans and NATO are not
interested in the progress of our three countries.
Those who put pressure from abroad are unwanted guests
[and] should leave, sooner or later.” [9] With the announcement of new U.S. military bases in
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in addition to the
indefinite maintenance of those in the latter country,
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and with American and NATO
military strength in Afghanistan at a record 150,000
troops, there is no indication that the Pentagon and
the North Atlantic military bloc intend to leave the
strategic arc that begins in the South Caucasus and
ends at the Chinese border. [10] 1) North Atlantic Treaty Organization http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/../
nato-pulls-pakistan-into-its-global-network Afghan War: Petraeus Expands U.S. Military
Presence Throughout Eurasia http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/../
afghan-war-petraeus-expands-u-s-military-presence-throughout-eurasia Pentagon Chief In Azerbaijan: Afghan War Arc
Stretches To Caspian And http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/../1761/ Kazakhstan: U.S., NATO Seek Military Outpost
Between Russia And China http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/../
kazakhstan-u-s-nato-seek-military-outpost-between-russia-and-china Kyrgyzstan And The Battle For Central Asia http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/../
kyrgyzstan-and-the-battle-for-central-asia Mongolia: Pentagon Trojan Horse Wedged Between
China And Russia http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/../
mongolia-pentagon-trojan-horse-wedged-between-china-and-russia NATO’s Role In The Military Encirclement Of Iran http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/../
natos-role-in-the-military-encirclement-of-iran Broader Strategy: West’s Afghan War Targets
Russia, China, Iran http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/../
broader-strategy-wests-afghan-war-targets-russia-china-iran West’s Afghan War And Drive Into Caspian Sea
Basin http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/../
wests-afghan-war-and-drive-into-caspian-sea-basin Azerbaijan And The Caspian: NATO’s War For The
World’s Heartland http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/../
azerbaijan-and-the-caspian-natos-war-for-the-worlds-heartland Mr. Simmons’ Mission: NATO Bases From Balkans To
Chinese Border http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2009/../
mr-simmons-mission-nato-bases-from-balkans-to-chinese-border |
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