(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Article five of the NATO Pact has been activated. An attack on a NATO country is an attack on the whole of NATO. Today, we are therefore in a situation where Norway and other NATO countries are obliged to support and join forces with the United States in military attacks against Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. It is the official Western interpretation of NATO's laws and regulations. But is this interpretation correct? Gunnar Garbo and the campaign "No to the new NATO" think it is wrong. On Saturday 13 October, they will explain why at the seminar “Military Globalization. The role of NATO and Norway ”.
Distortion of the UN Pact
According to Garbo, it was unwise for the US / NATO to go to war against Afghanistan, or exterminate the terrorists, as they say.
- This has no support in international law. It authorizes defensive warfare, but it must be an attack by a state that lasts over time. The attack on the World Trade Center lasted only a few minutes, and invoking international law as the basis for the attack on Afghanistan is a distortion of the UN pact, Garbo told Ny Tid.
He does not believe that the US will stop the attack on Afghanistan. The US has said it will punish anyone who huser terrorists, and although Garbo himself will not say anything about which countries may be attacked, he points out that the US has mentioned countries such as Libya, Iraq, Sudan and North Korea.
Garbo further points out that since World War II, the United States has defended its economic interests around the world with military means. Therefore, the United States today has military bases all over the world. Other social models became adversaries, a threat to US expansion. After the Soviet collapse, a new situation has arisen.
- After Kosovo, we have received new rearmament. Both the United States and the European Union are strengthening the military. One example is the Star Wars program for the United States.
Garbo is concerned that the terrorist attack may make President Bush think again, since they failed to protect themselves against the terrorists. But if the United States decides to launch the Star Wars program, Russia and China will need to protect themselves. According to Garbo, they will then have to strengthen their offensive capacity and, among other things, develop more long-range rockets.
Rebellion from the grass root
- How can we stop the madness?
- We need a revolt from the grassroots. People must pressure politicians, demonstrate and protest. The election campaign was spooky. There was no debate about, for example, Star Wars and NATO's new strategy. Star Wars is stupid, dangerous and unethical. Dangerous because it endangers stability, unethical because war is inhuman.
NATO's new strategy
Arild Linneberg, who is also one of the initiators of the seminar, writes in the Class Fight 29. September on NATO's new strategy concept. This was adopted in April 1999 in the midst of the NATO war against Yugoslavia. NATO should now be able to operate outside its normal area (out of area) and act as a world police where they believe that Western interests are threatened. This may include international terrorism and areas of political instability and religious turmoil. According to Linneberg, it is quite remarkable that, in connection with the terrorist attack on the United States, no one has commented that it is the new strategy concept that applies, and not Article Five.
- In the new strategy concept, article five is replaced by a "non-article-five provision". This new article transforms NATO from a defense pact into an offensive force.
Linneberg further emphasizes that the reorganization of the Norwegian Armed Forces has taken place at a record pace. Likewise, Norwegian politicians are united in their support for NATO's new "out of area" strategy.
- The new concept states that "non-article-five" operations can be as extensive as a large-scale traditional defense operation. This is exactly what the United States and NATO are planning, Linneberg claims.
