NATO has existed for a long time, but its most important period is the post-1990, when the Stalinist system in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe collapsed. NATO embarked on a period of rapid eastward expansion promising to ensure peace and security. This was accelerated by right-wing governments in Eastern European countries, which were able to exploit the memory of Stalinist repression, and by the big businesses that really hold the power in the EU.
But NATO’s promises of peace have not materialised, as Putin’s brutal invasion and war in Ukraine has clearly shown. There was also a hesitation on the part of imperialism before expansion. Then US Secretary of State Warren Christopher warned in 1994 that it could produce “a neo-imperialist Russia”.
So, at the same time as expanding to new countries, NATO began cooperating with Russia, culminating during the US-led war in Afghanistan, but continuing until 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea. The West’s various sanctions and increased military build-up since then have of course been exploited to the maximum in Putin’s nationalist propaganda.
In 2021, NATO countries spent a total of over 1 trillion US dollars on the military, with the US accounting for 70%. Only 17 countries have a GDP greater than NATO’s military spending. 3 billion goes to the headquarters and its 4,000 employees.
Importantly, after the disaster of the Vietnam War, the US is increasingly reluctant to use its own ground forces, which risk heavy casualties. Aerial bombing and missiles dominated both Afghanistan in 2001 and Libya in 2011, as well as in the operations against ISIS in Syria. Wars on the ground have been fought by proxy.
For US imperialism today, Chinese imperialism is its main competitor and enemy. For Washington, the new Cold War is about forcing governments, like the Swedish one, into the US fold.
Important dates in NATO’s history:
1949
NATO is formed. The first 12 member countries are Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States.
NATO was a political alliance to strengthen the ruling classes in Western Europe, which had been severely weakened after the Second World War. Within the working class and the broad masses there were strong revolutionary sentiments, in France and Italy, for example, coloured by the crisis of capitalism in the 1930s, the second world war and the fight against fascism. The role of the Soviet Union in the victory against Nazi Germany was also influential, nothwithstanding the real concerns and doubts workers had about the brutal Stalinist system.
US imperialism intervened with capital and political backing to save capitalism in Western Europe and thus protect its own interests. It had strong roots in US big business, for which Europe is a major market.
NATO was directed primarily against the Soviet Union, but also aimed to limit the re-emergence of a strong Germany. Both West and East accepted the division of Germany into separate spheres of interest. Throughout the Cold War, the US was the decisive power in Western Europe.
1951
NATO takes on a clearer military character, with a commander-in-chief, joint headquarters and command structure. Since then, the top military officer has been a US general or admiral. Since then, military equipment has been standardised within NATO, under de facto US leadership.
Behind this increased militarisation is the Korean War, which had then begun, when US imperialism considered that war against the Soviet Union could also be waged in Europe and other parts of the world. This view later led to the devastating Vietnam War.
In reality, Moscow was not looking for expansion. Stalin’s rule (he died in 1953) had established a system in which capitalism was replaced by bureaucratic planning. Politically, it was a totalitarian dictatorship, a system that persisted until its collapse in 1989–91. The leadership’s main objective was to maintain power, i.e. the status quo, not revolts and unrest.
1952
Greece and Turkey joined. They are two of several member countries ruled by military dictatorships (Turkey last in 1980, Greece in 1967–74). Of the original countries, Portugal was a dictatorship until the 1974 revolution.
1955
Only 10 years after the Second World War West Germany is recognised as a state in its own right and becomes a member of NATO. In the same year, the Soviet Union and the states under its control in Eastern Europe form their own military alliance, the Warsaw Pact.
1982
Seven years after the fall of the Franco dictatorship, Spain joins NATO.
1989–91
The collapse of Stalinism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe becomes a fact. Capitalism is restored, oligarchs and Western corporations plunder the countries.
1992
NATO’s first military operation begins in the former Yugoslavia (in the civil war raging in Bosnia-Herzegovina), enforcing an arms embargo and a no-fly zone, followed three years later by NATO bombing raids against Bosnian Serb forces.
1994
NATO launches Partnership for Peace, an agreement with countries in Eastern Europe, but also with Russia and Sweden. Washington hesitates about NATO expansion.
In the same year, NATO carries out its first direct war operations in its own name, when fighter jets shot down planes over Bosnia.
1997
Russia is brought closer to NATO, with a NATO-Russia agreement that includes a joint council at NATO headquarters and 19 areas of cooperation. As late as October 2021, the last Russian diplomats are forced to leave the headquarters. A similar council is also being set up for Ukraine.
This year, NATO is expanded to include the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.
1999
NATO’s second major war effort is the bombing of Serbia, an operation involving more than 1,000 fighter planes between March and June. The bombs are estimated to have killed more than 1,000 Serbian soldiers and around 500 civilians.
2001
The war in Afghanistan begins after the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September, when NATO’s Article 5 on joint defence is used for the first time. All NATO countries and all Partnership for Peace participants, including Sweden, took part in Afghanistan. In 2003 NATO is given formal command of the troops, known as ISAF. In 2015 NATO takes over in its own name.
Up to 150,000 troops were withdrawn and a 20-year war ended with the retreat of Western powers and the return of the Taliban in 2021.
2004
The biggest enlargement in Eastern Europe, with Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
2008
NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, declares that Ukraine and Georgia would eventually become members. It plays an important role in the war between Russia and Georgia that followed.
2009
Albania and Croatia join NATO.
2011
NATO’s next bombing campaign is in Libya, lasting eight months. Alleged promises to defend democracy and human life ended in extreme hardship, misery and a state of war that has lasted ever since. Here too, Sweden is participating with JAS planes and officers in various headquarters.
2012
Also in the early 2010s, Russia and NATO signed new agreements. In 2012, Russia joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) to further integrate its economy with the West.
In the same year, the US under President Obama began its pivot towards Asia, a first step towards the new Cold War against China. In recent years, NATO, originally a transatlantic alliance, has turned increasingly towards China. Also, the major arms deployment to Ukraine should be seen as a warning to Beijing.
2014
Russia annexes the Crimean peninsula and military fighting begins in the Donbass, with breakout regions declaring republics. NATO responded by installing new headquarters in eight of Russia’s neighbours in eastern Europe, as well as launching military training and sending equipment to Ukraine.
2017
As new president, Donald Trump declares NATO obsolete and increases pressure for greater military spending. At the same time, NATO deploys 4,500 troops to the Baltic states and Poland.
2018
The US sends more advanced weapons into Ukraine, such as anti-tank missiles for the fighting in Donbas. Ukraine is invited to take part in military exercises with NATO.
2020
North Macedonia becomes a member.
2022
Russia invades Ukraine. President Biden announces that the US will not participate militarily, but pledges $40 billion to Ukraine. Today (May 2022), NATO has 40,000 troops in Eastern Europe, ten times more than when the war began on 24 February.
