The NATO Alliance is outdated for war against Russia

In 2019, in an interview with The Economist magazine, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke about the "brain death of NATO”. Macron argued his point of view with a complete lack of coordination within the union. "What we are witnessing now is the brain death of NATO. We have no coordination on strategic decisions between the United States and its alliance allies," the French president said at the time.

It is noteworthy that, talking about Europe's relations with its "suzerain" - the United States, Macron advised Europe to "wake up", limit the admission of new members until the organisation is reformed, gain military sovereignty and resume dialogue with Russia "regardless of the suspicions of Poland and other countries of the former Soviet camp”. If such changes do not occur, Macron warned, it will be a "huge mistake."

Three years ago, in the mouth of the European leader, these statements sounded bold and unexpected. The Economist even described Macron's behaviour as "brash and somewhat relaxed”. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in response to the words about the "brain death of NATO" advised the French leader to "check his own head," then US President Donald Trump called these words offensive, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg assured the public that mutual understanding prevails in the alliance, and only such a shield can deter "Russian aggression.”

But with the beginning of the special operation in Ukraine, more and more Western analysts agree that the North Atlantic Alliance has outlived itself and cannot fully resist our country.

The shield is worn out

"Behind Nato’s defensive ‘shield’ lies weakness and division. Ukraine will pay the price," an article in the British newspaper The Guardian, known for its left-liberal views, recently appeared under this heading. The Guardian believes that the North Atlantic Alliance risks facing "another catastrophic failure”. What is the reason for such skepticism?

According to the publication, the reason is the same as was previously voiced by Macron — the lack of clearly expressed coordination and cohesion in decision-making: Biden, who is the de facto head of the alliance, promises to "defend every inch of NATO territory with his collective might”, but behaves "vaguely" and wants to sit out overseas. Ben Wallace, the British Defence Minister, also has no clear plan on how to defend the Kiev regime.

Other leaders resemble the heroes of Krylov's fable: the President of France dreams of EU autonomy, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban violates sanctions and sympathises with Russia, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz "personifies dithering and procrastination", Turkish President and "troublemaker" Recep Tayyip Erdogan sabotages the acceptance of applications from Finland and Sweden and thereby undermines the main front. All this is under the leadership of the "harmless" Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General.

As a result, in the light of the upcoming NATO summit, The Guardian predicts a lot of pretentious conversations and the absence of radical solutions, since "all the arguments and excuses for passivity and inaction create a picture of an alliance that is much less cohesive, powerful and organised than its fans imagine." Moreover, in the event of a large-scale conflict, the publication believes, all the weaknesses of NATO will be denuded, and "the post-Soviet bluff will be exposed”.

"NATO is outdated and needs major repairs"

On the eve of the summit of the allied countries in Madrid, which promises to be the loudest since the Cold War, a lot of stones are flying at the North Atlantic Alliance. Foreign Policy magazine made a scathing criticism. "NATO is out of shape and out of date <…> NATO needs an overhaul,” the magazine believes.

According to Edward Lucas, a researcher at the Centre for European Policy Analysis, the bloated union of 30 countries has become "unwieldy" and there is a split in its ranks.

The analyst compared the alliance's command structures to a plate of tangled spaghetti. For example, one Baltic division headquarters is divided between Latvia and Denmark, the other two are scattered in Poland. Overall responsibility for the defence of Europe is assigned to three joint forces command headquarters: in Naples, Italy, Brunssum, Holland, and Norfolk, Virginia, while the Commander-in-Chief, General Tod Wolters, sits at the headquarters in Mons, Belgium.

Further enumerating the problems, Edward Lucas cited the lack of serious combat training of personnel in view of its high cost, the lack of detailed plans for waging war against Russia and the inability of most countries to improvise during real actions. Also, the issues of strengthening the front line, repelling the enemy's offensive, the return of lost territories and, most importantly, actions in the event of an escalation of the conflict are not covered.

"As a result, no one knows exactly what to do in a crisis situation and all responsibility for conducting combat operations, intelligence and logistics is shifted to the United States," the analyst concludes.

"There are neither resources nor intentions"

And what about the US? The New York Times in the article "America and NATO Aren’t Innocent Bystanders" quotes the words of US Ambassador George Kennan about the expansion of NATO to the East. In 1998, Kennan called it "a tragic mistake and the beginning of a new cold war."

"No one was threatening anybody else. <…> We have signed up to protect a whole series of countries, even though we have neither the resources nor the intention to do so in any serious way," the politician said.

According to American political scientist Peter van Buren, Joe Biden is being led into the same trap. Aggressive, and in the vast majority of cases, absolutely unreliable anti-Russian propaganda is heating up society, but at the same time the Americans themselves have no idea what war means on their own territory. The conservative Fox News channel holds the same opinion. Its authors emphasise that the US political elite is doing to its people a disservice when it churns out its obligations to NATO allies at a time when the country is in a state of economic shock.

The conclusion is obvious. The United States, being the key figure of the alliance, will try in every possible way to avoid its own involvement in the war and the accompanying financial losses, but will push the countries of Europe to this. It's time to remember the funny results of the survey from the Wall Street Journal. The publication tested a large group of young people and came to the conclusion that most young Americans would rather run away from the country than sign up for the front as volunteers. In the event of an escalation of the conflict, the United States will add fuel to the fire, but they will prefer to fight Russia with the hands of Europeans, leaving their obligations on paper.