NATO's Stealth Operation Barbarossa*

Of the 12 new members of the military alliance in previously “Soviet space,” seven are fragments of former socialist states.

In Afghanistan, U.S. soldiers and Romanian soldiers share the same bases and facilities. Soldier on the far right is Romanian, others are U.S. Army. Salem-News.com photo by Tim King

(PORTLAND) - I was inspired by the comment of Andrew Biehn, commander of the guided missile destroyer USS Truxtum which has just entered the Black Sea and docked at the Bulgarian port of Varna, that he is conducting joint exercises with “our allies in the region”" –namely Bulgaria and Romania—a few hundred miles from the Crimea. Somehow, I had forgotten that those two countries were military allies of the US and it set me off on a review of the history of NATO expansion. Founded in 1949 by the Truman regime as a military alliance against the Soviet Union, until 1952 when NATO expanded into the east Mediterranean with Greece and Turkey, one could argue its members were broadly related to the North Atlantic region--with the possible exception of Italy. But with the fragmentation of the Soviet Union, which Putin in 2005 correctly called a “major geopolitical disaster of the century,” its stealth “Barbarossa” has moved inexorably east into the former socialist countries and the rumps of their fragmented states. By doing so, it violated its understanding with Gorbachev that it would not extend the NATO military alliance east if the Soviet Union would accept NATO member West Germany absorbing East Germany.** Of the 12 new members of the military alliance in previously “Soviet space,” seven are fragments of former socialist states.

As many are pointing out http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/14/opinion/getting-ukraine-wrong.html?, in 2008 NATO declared that Georgia and Ukraine “will become members of NATO,” and the Obama regime has since spent millions last year to realize that objective.(e.g. www.commondreams.org/view/2014/03/14-6.

	Czech Republic 1999 : fragment of the former Czechoslovakia
	Hungary             “
	Poland               “ --------------------------------
	Bulgaria            2004
	Estonia             “       : fragment of the former Soviet Union
	Latvia               “                      “
	Lithuania          “                      “
	Romania          “
	Slovakia           “       : fragment of the former Czechoslovakia
	Slovenia          “       :  fragment of the former Yugoslavia ----------------------------------------------------
	Albania          2009
	Croatia            “      : fragment of the former Yugoslavia   *If you’ve forgotten, this was the code name for Nazi Germany (Merkel’s predecessor) 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union.   ** A good summary of this issue from Der Spiegel is at http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=50297

Visit my website michaelmunk.com

Portland Tribune photo by L.E. Baskow

Order from Powell's

Michael Munk tries to glean important but overlooked items from the world media on the issues of the day and posts them on an irregular schedule. Although items can overlap, he also maintains separate lists for activists in Portland, Oregon and the Northwest, and special lists for: Labor, Latin America, Israel, Torture Taxis, Korea, and the Czech Republic.

Michael is a highly praised writer from an important generation whose book, the Portland Red Guide, has received high praise.

"City Commissioner Nick Fish gave me a copy. Sat down on my sofa and couldn't put it down until I finished. Fascinating!"
-- Tom Potter, Mayor of Portland 2005-2009

"Whoop! Whoop! I'm impressed by how many names from Portland's past have not made it into our official histories and public memorials. Some were good friends of mine. Local history is too often overlooked. Good work, Mike."
-- Bud Clark, Saloon keeper, Goose Hollow Inn, and Mayor of Portland, 1985–1992

Visit the new photo gallery on Michael's website: www.michaelmunk.com