NATO continues to surround the Russian Federation with their missiles, which according to Rozoff may soon number in the thousands and NATO also continues to aggressively seek to “integrate” country after country into their “alliance”. Rick tells us why the Western media has gone quiet on Syria and comments on the fact that Iran is now producing its own drones, which were reversed engineered from captured American drones. As always Rick has his finger on the pulse.
Robles: Can you give our listeners an update on the latest happenings with NATO please?
Rozoff: Yes. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is continuing its expansion, at least its efforts to expand globally. Within the last few days we’ve seen overtures made by leading NATO officials to previously neutral countries like Ireland, Finland, Sweden in efforts to recruit them into the alliance.
The Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen is in Ireland now, but prior to departing for Ireland, which historically has been a neutral nation, was during the Cold War, he gave an interview to the Irish Times where he extended an invitation essentially for Ireland to join NATO as a full member.
The Deputy Commander of Allied Command Transformation, the NATO command in the United States, in Norfolk, Virginia, within the last week or two as well has welcomed Finland, which borders Russia, as a strategic partner of NATO and talked about the further integration of that nation into the NATO sphere of influence and military operations.
And then the commander of the military forces, the top commander, in Sweden a couple of days ago made a very provocative statement to the effect that if a war ensued between Sweden and Russia – How probable is that, right? – that Sweden wouldn’t last two days against Russia’s military might and that’s why Sweden needs to be in NATO.
So, as we are seeing there is a concerted effort to consolidate North Atlantic Treaty Organization control over the entire European continent. I mean they are not going to rest until every nation has been pulled in it as a full member. So, we have that going on.
And then we have, although not formally a NATO operation, we have the French military campaign in Mali in northwest Africa with the active assistance of the United States, Britain, Germany and other major NATO powers. And so, just off the top of my head, that’s what is going on with NATO: it is consolidating its domination of Europe and it is extending its reach outside of Europe to the point where, an official with the German Marshall Fund of the United States, recently stated that NATO is basically, I don’t want to say a three-ring circus, but something to that effect, saying that there is a ring that is Europe and there is beyond that ring Asia and Africa. This is from Mark Jacobson. an Atlanticist think tank expert.
So, we see the persistence of the US-dominated military bloc’s efforts to extend itself. As a matter of fact, something I don’t want to forget, the current Russian ambassador to NATO, Alexander Grushko, said a couple of days ago at a meeting in NATO headquarters that Russia would not tolerate NATO declaring itself and functioning as, I believe his words were, “an international energy security guarantor”, which is another role that NATO has arrogated onto itself.
Reminder
Robles: Can you tell us anything about, there were reports last week that the infamous missile shield, including Romanian installations, was not workable? Have you heard anything about that?
Rozoff: Yes, there were reports to that effect and one wonders if these are calculated leaks or if they have any authenticity. I don’t know. But you might recall there were similar concerns expressed about the earlier George W. Bush administration’s plans for interceptor missiles in Poland, what are called Ground-Based Midcourse interceptors. But the concerns that you’ve read or you are alluding to rather are premised on the fact that Iran is supposedly going to be able to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles that need interception from places like Romania and Poland, and I would argue that’s an absurd contention in the first place. So, the basic premises and the conclusions drawn from them would be similarly inaccurate. So, I wouldn’t give too much credence to those reports. The US is still going ahead with them.
As a matter of fact, in a recent statement by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the NATO chieftain, he boasted particularly about the missile defense so-called, the interceptor missile system as being, as he put it, at the core of NATO’s defense posture.
He boasted about the deployment of 6 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptor missile batteries to southeastern Turkey which have now come unde formal NATO command and control. And he also talked about European countries emulating or joining the United States by providing warships with interceptor missile radar and with the interceptor missiles themselves.
We should keep in mind, and I don’t know how well it is known in Russia and elsewhere, is that the United States currently has 62 what are called Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers and 22 Ticonderoga class guided missile cruisers, that is altogether 84 warships, that currently, at least the destroyers, can carry as many as 90 missiles apiece.
And it is precisely these ships that are now referred to as Aegis class or are in the process of becoming such; that is, are equipped to carry, or will be carrying, Standard Missile-3 interceptor missiles of the sort that are going to be based on the ground in Poland and Romania from 2015 to 2018. But the 48 missiles that are going to be in Poland and Romania, 24 apiece, are a formidable challenge enough to Russia. But the fact that there may be several hundred, even thousands, of missiles placed on the US cruisers and destroyers is a much more serious consideration.
Robles: Can you tell us a little bit about what is going on with Syria right now? Everything’s gotten real quiet. After they’ve put those missiles in Turkey, the Patriots you just spoke about, and as we’ve said in the past in our discussions: when they go quiet something is up.
Rozoff: I know what you are talking about John. Watching old adventure films, whenever the insects and the animals in the forest or the jungle became quiet, you became nervous. And a situation similar to that I’m sure is obtaining in relation to Syria.
We also have to remember, though, there is a changing of the guard in Washington. With the Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, who more than anyone else I’m sure has been instrumental in pushing through a campaign of regime change in Damascus, out and John Kerry replacing her as the chief foreign policy diplomat in the US, similarly with the Pentagon with the defense secretary and with the CIA director.
So, there may be a short reprieve for Damascus, for Syria at this point until the second-term Obama administration’s foreign policy team is in place in which case we may see them mounting an offensive again.
Robles: There were reports we’ve just had that Iran captured a US drone, last year, and they reverse engineered it and are now producing massive quantities of their own drones.
Rozoff: It would serve Washington right if they did. I mean it truthfully would. The US has pioneered international drone warfare, this is something it has developed over the last decade, actually over the last 12 years. It is a new form of warfare, it is global in scope, it is deadly as we know.
You were listening to an interview with Rick Rozoff the manager of the stop NATO website and mailing list.
Visit our site in the near future for part 2 of this talk.
