brahmdeep alune
Till now NATO and US have been carrying out military operations in any part of the world to maintain the military balance. But after the attack on Ukraine, NATO has appeared helpless in the face of Russia’s threat of nuclear war. NATO’s avoidance of strategic retaliation in Ukraine has added to the confusion about the global balance of power.
The policy of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to keep Europe and the American continent balanced and controlled has been defeated. NATO is proving to be a dwarf in the face of China’s economic strategy and Russia’s strategic aggression. China’s aid diplomacy campaign in Latin America and the Caribbean countries is in full swing.
Countries like Brazil, Mexico and Colombia are moving ahead with economic partnership with China, while countries like Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela are also making comprehensive economic agreements with China, defying America. China is taking its ties to a higher level with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) regional organization of these countries and all this is being led by Argentina.
Indeed, Latin America and the Caribbean countries have become an important part of China’s Belt Road plan. Venezuela and Cuba stand in support of China due to US protests. China’s dominance is also increasing in countries like El Salvador and Honduras. China is also rapidly gaining foothold in Western Europe. China’s new Silk Road is an ambitious network of infrastructure projects spread across five continents, with the help of which it is engaged in expanding economic partnership with the American continent and NATO allies.
The European countries in the Middle East with which China is working under a comprehensive strategy include Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia are included. In this, many countries are part of the NATO military organization, which was established to prevent communism.
As part of the policy of encircling Europe, China continues to move forward in cooperation with the Balkan countries. It is also showing interest in several ports in Europe. It has a major stake in the ports of many countries of South Europe including Greece, Turkey. Chinese investment in the Western Balkan countries has increased significantly and China’s debt on these countries is increasing. This growing influence of China is bound to make America and Europe sleepless.
The effect of China’s economic and cultural cooperation is also visible diplomatically. America is vocal about the rights of Vigor Muslims, while the Balkan countries show no interest in any proposal to criticize China. The Balkan Peninsula is a large region of southeast Europe and the US and NATO are apprehensive that China’s diplomatic edge here does not turn into a strategic one. The Balkans is the easternmost peninsula of Southern Europe and is surrounded by seas on three sides. It is bordered by the Black Sea to the east, the Aegean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Ionian Sea and the Adriatic Sea to the west. China’s increased status in this region appears to be taking a strategic edge over the US and NATO.
Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine and its lack of global pressure on it is also raising questions about the relevance of NATO, the world’s largest military organization. Intervention in international politics is considered a dictatorial interference by one nation to subvert the affairs of another nation. NATO troops are stationed under the leadership of the US in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania in Eastern Europe.
Along with this, NATO has also increased aerial surveillance in the Baltic countries and Eastern Europe, so that Russia can also be monitored from the sky. After the attack on Ukraine, it became clear that this plan of NATO and America to put pressure on Russia did not work. This situation is troubling to NATO and America.
In 2008, at the Bucharest Conference of NATO, Ukraine and Georgia were supported to become members and agreed that these countries would become members of NATO. But Russia rejected America’s option of expanding NATO territory to the east. This is where the real challenge of NATO grew. The main goal of NATO, the world’s largest military organization, was to limit the diplomatic, political and strategic influence of the communist Soviet Union, which it also succeeded in.
But in the past two decades, Putin’s influence in Russia and aid diplomacy from China has changed the global scenario. After announcing NATO’s intention to include Georgia and Ukraine in its alliance in 2008, Russia invaded Georgia and occupied many of its territories. It was then annexed to Crimea in 2014. Even at this time Ukraine has been devastated by Russian attacks.
NATO’s policy of keeping doors open to everyone has weakened. He could not do anything in the matter of Ukraine even after wishing. Ukraine has been demanding a clear timeline and prospects for joining NATO. But NATO became helpless before the pressure of Russia. Now Ukraine’s President Zelensky has also clearly said that NATO is afraid of Russia.
US and NATO policy regarding Ukraine can have strategic implications in many areas of the world. Ignoring opposition from NATO and the US, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the separatist rebel areas of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine as independent states. Russia has officially entered here and it is not surprising that its merger with Russia should be announced soon.
It is also not that Putin will be confined to Ukraine. It is possible that Putin may in future take similar military action in Poland, Bulgaria and Hungary as well as Ukraine. Many countries in Asia have avoided opposing Russia in the Ukraine crisis. This situation is going to make America and NATO uncomfortable. The military organization’s reputation has been tarnished by the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan and its destabilization by NATO forces.
There can be no clear idea about the balance of power, because every nation believes only in such a balance which is in its favor and this is where imbalance is established in the other side. Till now NATO and US have been carrying out military operations in any part of the world to maintain the military balance. But after the attack on Ukraine, NATO has appeared helpless in the face of Russia’s threat of nuclear war. NATO’s avoidance of strategic retaliation in Ukraine has added to the confusion about the global balance of power.
NATO and the US face many challenges on the economic and strategic fronts to stop China and Russia. NATO currently does not have any effective plan on how to reduce China’s economic influence in Europe and America. At the same time, Europe also does not have any security cover to avoid Russia’s nuclear attacks. This is a more aggressive, new communist, economic and strategic challenge than ever before, which the US and NATO do not currently have the ability to face.