Disband NATO: Demand Communists
By Countercurrents
03 April 2014
Countercurrents.org
RIA Novosti / Maksim Blinov
Communists in a number of countries have demanded disbanding of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). A proposition to this demand has been made. At the same time, Kiev authorities have decided to stage a number of military exercises with NATO, and NATO is expanding its military presence in eastern Europe.
It called upon the working people and nations of the whole world to join in the common struggle for peace, against war and NATO, and for the future where peace, progress and social justice would become priorities, where every nation could freely decide on its future.
Media reports from countries in Europe said:
The Communist Party of Portugal has prepared the motion. About 50 different left-wing parties and movements have already signed the motion.
The motion goes on to blame the US, the leading member of the military bloc, and its NATO allies for numerous war crimes and significant damage, for cruel acts of aggression in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, interfering with other nations' domestic affairs, like in Syria or a policy of intimidation that is being applied to Iran.
The motion was prepared to mark the 65th anniversary of the imperialist military bloc.
The leftists accused NATO, the USA and the European Union (which they called NATO's European cushion) of aiding the growing militarization of international relations and other aggressive and hostile processes resisting the struggle for freedom of different peoples and the working class as a whole.
The Russian Communist Party has signed the proposition by international leftist groups condemning NATO politics and demanding the bloc is disbanded.
We demand NATO dissolution and support the sovereign right of all nations to decide on their countries' withdrawal from this aggressive alliance, reads the document.
A copy of this document has been posted on the Russian Communist Party website on April 2, 2014.
The progressives claim NATO is responsible for the "non-stop" arms race. They blame the bloc and its allies for over two thirds of the world's total military budget.
The military bloc and its leading member, the US , are constantly seeking to expand their military base network and areas of influence, says the motion.
The motion says the bloc acts under its openly hostile strategic concept and also expands the area where military intervention and occupation are possible.
It adds that such behavior confirms NATO's main role as a military wing of the major transnational monopolies.
The proposal demands a stop to NATO expansion, the nuclear arms race, and the program to place US and NATO missile defense systems in Europe .
It also demands the complete ban on weapons of mass destruction, and the closure of foreign military bases all over the world, the immediate withdrawal of foreign military forces from Afghanistan and other countries.
Demonstrators hold flags of the Communist Party during an anti-NATO march in downtown Lisbon (Reuters / Juan Medina)
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is anti-imperialists and anti-NATO.
Russia 's official position is much more tolerant despite listing NATO as a potential enemy in its military doctrine, Russia has developed cooperation with the bloc, allowing cargo to be transported through its territory to Afghanistan and even opening a major transport hub for the purpose.
But ordinary Russians are more cautious.
According to a poll conducted by the Levada polling center in mid-2013, two-thirds of Russians did not consider NATO to be a partner of their country, and only one in seven Russians thought that cooperation with NATO was a good thing.
NATO war activities
The NATO said it will start reconnaissance flights with AWACS planes from their home base in Geilenkirchen and Waddington in Britain over Poland and Romania to monitor the situation in neighboring Ukraine .
NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels this week has asked military commanders to draw up plans to reinforce NATO members in eastern Europe and has suspended all practical cooperation with Russia .
Kiev moves closer to NATO
At the same time, Ukraine on April 1, 2014 decided a series of joint military exercises with NATO that would put US troops in direct proximity to Russian forces in Crimea, the peninsula reunited with its country Russia .
Ukraine is not a NATO member and its new Western-backed leaders have vowed not to push for closer relations with the Brussels-based military alliance.
The exercises approved on April 1, 2014 would see Ukraine conduct two sets of military exercises with the US this summer -- Rapid Trident and Sea Breeze -- that have prompted disquiet in Russia in previous years.
Ukraine is planning two additional maneuvers with NATO member Poland as well as joint ground operations with Moldova and Romania .
The Sea Breeze exercises have particularly irritated Moscow because they had on occasion been staged in Crimea -- the home of Russia 's Black Sea Fleet.
Those maneuvers have in more recent years been moved to the Black Sea port of Odessa where Ukraine also has a naval base.
The naval section of Sea Breeze would this time be conducted over a 25-day span between July and October out of two Odessa ports and "along the waters of the Black Sea ".
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