The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO /ˈneɪtoʊ/; French: Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord; OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, where the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe also resides. Belgium is one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia, joined in April 2009. An additional 22 countries participate in NATO's Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70 percent of the global total. Members' defense spending is supposed to amount to 2 percent (%) of GDP.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); French: Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord (OTAN); (also called the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance, or the Western Alliance) is a military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, the organization constitutes a system of collective defense whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.
The background to its formation
For decades Britain had traditional supported Greece, but was near bankruptcy in 1949 due to the Second World War and was thus forced to end all meaningful involvement in Greece. This is why Britain had formally requested the United States take over its role in supporting Greece during the February of 1947. Yugoslavia and Bulgaria had also got there own plans to spread communism to Greece, conquer Albania and set up a Yugoslav puppet state in Greek Macedonia.
The Berlin airlift, the rising numbers of Soviet troops in East Germany during the late 1940s and Czechoslovak coup of 1948 all increased the perception among many Europeans that the Soviets posed a real danger, helping to prompt the entry into NATO of Portugal (fascist), Iceland (weak), Italy (communist insurgency), Denmark (weak) and Norway (bordered the USSR). The Icelandic NATO riot of March 30, 1949 was the only major public protest over NATO at the time.
Several nations had already agreed to found it about 6 months earlier. These nations were- France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, the US, the UK and Canada.
For its first few years, NATO was not much more than a political association. However, the Korean War galvanised the member states, and an integrated military structure was built up under the direction of two U.S. supreme commanders. The first NATO Secretary General Lord Ismay, famously described the organization's goal was "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down".
Royal Danish Air Force was established in 1950 the area was named Air Base Karup.
During the post-war years Karup Air Base became a central part of Denmark's NATO defence plan and played a major role in the establishment of the Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF). In 1955 the Tactical Air Command were placed at Karup. Civil airport facilaties opened in 1965 and millatery operations were partly transfered to other air bases in the 1970s and 1980s.
Throughout the Cold War doubts over the strength of the relationship between the European states and the United States ebbed and flowed, along with doubts over the credibility of the NATO defense against a prospective Soviet invasion - doubts that led to the development of the independent French nuclear deterrent and the withdrawal of the French from NATO's military structure from 1966.
Some LTV A-7 Corsair II aircraft was also exported to Greece in the 1970s and Portugal in the late 1980s to upgrade there aging fleets. They were, like the USA, part of NATO.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the organisation became drawn into the Balkans while building better links with former potential enemies to the east, which culminated with the former European Warsaw Pact states (exsept the USSR, al be it less the Baltic States) - except Albania - joining the alliance in 1999 and 2004. Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, NATO has attempted to refocus itself to new challenges and has deployed troops to Afghanistan and trainers to Iraq. France, Croatia and Albania had joined by 2009.
1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and KFOR
Kosovo's independence is a divisive issue since it is an artificial made, 90% ethnically pure, homeland for Kosovars. It covers the former Serbian province of Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija.
- Greece and Turkey joined the military alliance joined NATO in 1952 since it guaranteed their protection from communist invasion and terrorism.
- Politically unstable Spain joined in 1982 (it was still fighting the ETA separatist movement back then) in case it needed help looking after its overseas assets whilst fighting terrorism at home.
- Germany reunited in 1990 and did no go neutral as originally envisaged.
- Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic joined the organization, amid much debate within the organisation and Russian opposition in 1999. They were scared of Russia's slide toward oligarchy and dictatorship.
- Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania joined NATO on 29 March 2004. The were disgusted by Russia's bullying tactics and cutting gas supplies to Ukraine.
- Albania and Croatia joined on 1 April 2009. The were concerned about any long turn resurgent Serbian treat.
- The Montenegrin government officially approved joining NATO on 29 April 2017.
- Finland, Moldova, Serbia, Sweden, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Macedonia have either recently asked to join or were invited to join at a later date.
- The Republic of Kosovo wants to join NATO, but 4 NATO states blocked this. The fascist nations Greece (hates Albanians and Macedonians) and Spain (hates Basques and Catalans, the prior then went on to founded ETA in response), hopelessly divided Cyprus and the former Eastern Bloc nations of Romania, Slovakia, do not recognize Kosovo's independence. The United Nations (UN) dose not recognise it either since it is an artificial made ethnic homeland for Kosovars. It covers the former Serbian province of Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija. FEFA and the IOC do recognise it. The EU unofficially recognised it in 2012.
- In 2011, NATO officially recognised the plans of four aspiring members: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Macedonia and Montenegro. Macedonia has been prevented from joining the alliance by Greece, who has racist views even about its name 'Macedonia'. Sweden, Finland, Serbia, and Ukraine have had recent open political debate on the topic of membership. Russia fears what remains of Ukraine (as of 2015) joining NATO.
Possible global moves
Some have proposed expanding NATO outside of Europe, which would require amending Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
The proposals cover Mexico, Colombia, New Zealand, South Korea, Brazil, South Africa, Singapore, Israel, Australia, India and Japan.
During the June 2013, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos stated his hope that Colombia's cooperation with NATO could result in NATO membership, but his Foreign Minister, Juan Carlos Pinzon, quickly clarified that Colombia is not actively seeking NATO membership.
- Willingness to settle international, ethnic, political or external territorial disputes by only peaceful means, the commitment to the rule of law, respecting human rights and democratic control of the armed forces.
- The ability to contribute to the organization's mutual defence and missions.
- To spend at least 2% of national budgets on defence.
- The devotion of sufficient resources to armed forces to be able to meet the commitments of membership.
- The security of sensitive information and safeguards ensuring it stays so.
- The compatibility of domestic legislation with NATO cooperation.
- Mutual defence by all members in a 'one for all and all for one' defence doctrine.
“The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.
Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.”
“For the purpose of Article 5, an armed attack on one or more of the Parties is deemed to include an armed attack:
on the territory of any of the Parties in Europe or North America, on the Algerian Departments of France 2, on the territory of Turkey or on the Islands under the jurisdiction of any of the Parties in the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer; on the forces, vessels, or aircraft of any of the Parties, when in or over these territories or any other area in Europe in which occupation forces of any of the Parties were stationed on the date when the Treaty entered into force or the Mediterranean Sea or the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer.”
Exercise Ocelot '99 was Poland's first international air exercise since joining NATO in the 1990's.
Criticisms, failures, inter-member backstabbing and alleged inactions
America uber alis
America was accuse repeatedly between the Korean War and the War on Terror of stealing the glory of others and dominating decision making in NATO.
Operation Gladio had been covertly supported in least in some places by NATO. The Prime supporters were America, Canada and the UK.
Some units were good like in Austria where it had been covertly set up by far-right winger Herr Soucek and Herr Rössner as a genuine attempt to fight any occupying forces; while others were bad like in Turkey, which were the political enemies of the then Turkish prime minister Bülent Ecevit. He was the target of several assassination plots. Rumours persist its aging members still covertly hold out in places.
The 1953-1966 Project Iceworm
Whilst logical and necessary, American attempts to build an ICBM silo in northern Greenland were done without Denmark's and were thus illegal. The Danish never liked nuclear bombs and regarded them as overly horrific and unjustified.
ETA, the Troubles and alike
America was intermittently offering unofficial diplomatic sympathy and help to both the IRA and other related Irish Nationalist/Republican groups. America was probably helping Guerrilleros de Cristo Rey anginas Basque nationalist/communist ETA terrorist organisation via Operation Gladio. The Guerrilleros de Cristo Rey (Warriors of Christ the King) was possibly also conected with the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (AKA- The Triple A).
Italy's Years of Lead
The Cod Wars
The 2nd (or 1972-73) Anglo-Icelandic Cod War
On 16 September, Joseph Luns, Secretary-General of NATO held talks with with Icelandic ministers after they had asked to leave NATO since it had not blindly and automatic sided with the against the UK, Belgium and W. Germany, but had gone neutral instead. They wanted UK and US forces out. In the end they stayed in, but only after all UK and some US forces left.
The 3rd (or 1975-76) Anglo-Icelandic Cod War
This on and off fishing despite and the subsequent 'Cod Wars' became more dangerous when Iceland threatened closure of the NATO base at Keflavík, thus undermining NATO's securing of the Atlantic Ocean from the Soviet Union, so the UK agreed to Iceland's 200 nautical mile (370 km) exclusion zone without a specific agreement. 2 Icelandic fishing boats had also registered under the Soviet flag. The Soviets were a bit confused by the event, but did accepted the Icelandic ships' documents all tha same.
All of this was more than enough for the UK, UK, Belgium, W. Germany, USA and ultimately the rest of NATO to call Iceland a traitor and to invade it, which they did not.
The 1974 Cypriot coup d'état and 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus
Greece was not prevented from subverting the island's government in the 1974 Cypriot coup d'état nor was Turkey stopped from invading it. Both acts were with aggressive intentions towards the opposite ethnicity on Cyprus.
The early 1980s Dutch refusal to take nuclear weapons.
The Dutch never liked nuclear bombs and regarded them as overly horrific and unjustified. The USA bullied them into taking up nuclear armed American troops and threatened to kick them out of NATO at one point. Both the Dutch Oud-Strijders Legioen and some members of the UK's CND organised several of the 1980s against the stationing of American nuclear arms in the Netherlands.
1982 Falklands War
The United Nations Security Council Resolution 502, which passed with ten votes in support, one against (Panama) and four abstentions (China, the Soviet Union, Poland and Spain). The Soviet Union did have several interests in the South Atlantic and Antarctic region, but chose not to intervene in the war. The United States was also concerned by the prospect of Argentina turning to the Soviet Union for support and initially tried to mediate an end to the conflict. President Regan ensured that U.S. provided the United Kingdom with military equipment ranging from submarine detectors and satellite images to hi-tech radios and the latest missiles. They even agreed to a request by the UK government to borrow the Sea Harrier-capable amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2) if the British lost an aircraft carrier. France was upset by Argentina's needless use of military force and provided dissimilar no-export variant aircraft training so Harrier pilots could train against the French aircraft used by Argentina, while Argentina's training was at best off topic.
The French and British intelligence services co-operated to prevent Argentina from obtaining more Exocet missiles on the international market. West Germany informally gave some supplies to the UK. The satellite signal interception station at Fauske (Fauske II), Norway was vital in giving the British intelligence information regarding Argentinian fleet locations during the 1982 Falklands War.
Denmark, Iceland, Portugal, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Greece and Turkey offered no help to the UK despite being part of NATO.
1983 U.S. Intervention in Grenada
Operation Urgent Fury (AKA: the 1983 U.S. Intervention in Grenada) was a 1983 United States–led invasion of Grenada, a Caribbean island nation with a population of about 91,000 located 160 kilometres (99 mi) north of Venezuela, that resulted in a U.S. victory within a matter of weeks. Grenada had been a colony of the United Kingdom until 1974, but had retained the British monarch as head of state after independence. The leftist and pro-Cuban New Jewel Movement seized power in a coup in 1979, It was seen favourably by much of the Grenadian population, even after suspending the constitution.
In a United Nations General Assembly vote over the American invasion 108 were in favour of the resalution and 9 (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, El Salvador, Israel, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and the United States) voting against, with 27 abstentions. They adopted the General Assembly Resolution 38/7, which was worded as to "deeply deplores the armed intervention in Grenada, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of that State." The invasion was opposed by the United Kingdom, USSR, Trinidad and Tobago and Canada, The USSR condemn it as a war of aggression and accused the USA of undermining Grenada for several years earlier.
The UK was usually friendly towards to the new Grenadian and wanted a diplomatic solution to the crisis, so the USA, Barbados and Jamaica did not tell them when it was going to happen until it had already started, which left the UK out of any major decision making until it was to late. The usual fears about leeks, Soviet military intervention, fast moving Cold War political situations and suspected Cuban agents had panicked the American intelligence community, so the military had to do a rush job anyhow.
The UK's population had taken it as a major personal sight against them by the USA, Barbados and Jamaica. The British government was more concerned that it was not consulted by America than anything else, but was glad to see the communists removed. America, Jamaica and Barbados were also left concerned if the UK still regarded Grenada as a colony or if the British were relay still an ally of the USA.
Exercise Able Archer '83
The Able Archer exercises were devised as a simulated period of conflict escalation, culminating in a simulated DEFCON 1 coordinated nuclear attack. The Exercise Able Archer '83 exercise also introduced a new, unique format of coded communication, radio silences, and the participation of heads of government.
It was a major event that spanned Western Europe's NATO members and was centred on the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE)’s headquarters in Belgian village of Casteau, north of the city of Mons.
Because it simulated an actual nuclear weapons release, so British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and several NATO technical support units in the nuclear launch drill. United States President Reagan, Vice President George H. W. Bush, and Secretary of Defence Caspar Weinberger were also intended to participate, but did not get round to it. It is to be noted that Robert McFarlane, who had assumed the position of National Security Advisor just two weeks earlier, had uniquely realised the implications of such participation early in the exercise's planning and rejected it. A planned training move through all DEFCON alert phases, from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 1 would occur. While these phases were simulated, alarmist KGB agents mistakenly reported them as actual.
Soviet Politburo and military chiefs feared the U.S. was conducting a sly and cowardly ruse of war hide a genuine nuclear surprise attack by means of a first strike nuclear assault on them, so the Soviets readied their nuclear forces and placed Warsaw Pact air units in East Germany and Poland on alert in what became known as- the 1983 war scare. The USSR was convinced that the newly arrived Pershing II missile were part of a strike plan that was to take place from the European part of NATO on American orders. The KGB and GRU run Operation RYAN was created a few years earlier to work out just were the Americans were planning to nuke, why and how best to protect them. Their guidance system was self-correcting and the estimated flight time reach targets in the western Soviet Union from West Germany was 4 to 6 after launching. They knew there early launch radar was unreliable as they found out in the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident and so was of little if any use to them.
The Soviet intelligence establishment thought the burst of coded UK-USA communication tragic regarding the 1983 U.S. Intervention in Grenada was a very cunning and subtle cover for planning a nuclear war in Europe, while military strategists thought it was part of a plan to eventually invade Cuba.
Whilst Soviet forces were awesome on paper a sharp economic decline, shortages in key industries, endemic political corruption and bureaucratic inefficacy had devastated their battle readiness. Many had also started to doubt the value of Life under communism.
It has been long rumored that Exercise Able Archer '83 was a secret plot by American politicians, military, secret service and/or 'big business' to force a USSR vs UK\FRG war. President Ronald Reagan would have known nothing until the bombs had started to fall and would have thought the USSR had gone crazy. A USSR\USA atomic war would have resulted with a USA victory very likely, but at heavy loss.
Libya, et al
1986 United States bombing of Libya
Libya's support fort the 1985 Rome and Vienna airport attacks, Red Army Faction, the Red Brigades (in Italy), quarrels with neighbouring African states and the Irish Republican Army; the Gulf of Sidra incident, and the 5 April 1986 bombing by Libyan agents of the "La Belle" nightclub in West Berlin angered NATO's leadership greatly. West Germany and the United States soon obtained diplomatic cable transcripts from Libyan agents in East Germany who were involved in the attack.
Canada allowed the appropriate war games in Newfoundland and the UK allowed the use of RAF Upper Heyford to launch the attack force from.
For the Libyan raid, the United States was denied overflight rights by France (intimidated by Libya), Spain (intimidated by Libya) and Italy (liked Ghadaffi's Libya). West Germany (politically upset) refused overflights and the use of its air bases. Both France and W. Germany also resented the USA not asking permission until the last moment and refusing to say what he mission was about beyond that the USAF was gonging to bomb Libya. The Italian politician Bettino Craxi warned the Libyans about the planned attack and Italy proceeded to betray the NATO plans (as far as they knew them at the time) to Libya! The Americans had to fly over Portugal and through the Straits of Gibraltar, thus adding 1,300 miles (2,100 km) each way with increased aerial refuelling to do so.
Soviet Union had unexpectedly chosen to explicitly announced that it would not provide additional help to Libya beyond resupplying basic armaments and munitions, but denounced the attack as a 'wild' and 'barbaric' act by the United States. Libya soon retaliated by the firing two non-nuclear Scud missiles at a United States Coast Guard station that was situated on the Italian island of Lampedusa, but they overshot the target and landed harmlessly in the sea.
All that Italy had done was more than enough for the USA and the rest of NATO to call Italy a traitor and to invade it, which they did not do. America's refusal to co-operate with France and W. Germany was also a breach of NATO's mutual co-operation rules.
Anglo-French inaction in liberating Libya
President Obama commented in the March of 2016, that the the USA had done all the hard work with bombers and cruise missiles, whilst the French just finished it off with a second round of bombings and stole America's glory by saying they did it all!
The British were accused of walking out on their allies after agreeing with the USA, France, Qatar and Libya's NTC regime on staying in Libya to keep the pace and train up the locals in what a democracy is.
America then left after the infamous terrorist bomb and gun attack on their embassy in Tripoli.
A few weeks later Mossad publicly supported the USA's accusations against the UK and France.
The 1995 Srebrenica massacre
The USA, UK and France ignored Dutch requests to launch air strikes or send in ground forces, which lead to ~8,000 Muslim/Bozniak townsfolk and some of the the Dutch peacekeepers getting killed by the Bosnian Serbs in the Srebrenica massacre. The USA, UK and France were colluding with the Serbs on finding a quick and easy solution to the local fighting before ending war, which was finally closed under the Dayton accords.
The 9/11 attacks
Article 5 of the NATO treaty is its casus foederis. It commits each member state to consider an armed attack against one member state to be an armed attack against them all. It was invoked only once so far and it was done by the United States after the September 11 attacks in 2001. Apparently, the governments of Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Denmark showed no overt sympathy to the USA or any condemnation of the attacks, unlike their citizens. If they did not actually offer any covert help either and really meant to see America swing, then they thus breached the treaty's mutual defense aspect. The UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Greece, the USA, Canada, France, Israel and Turkey increased there diplomatic and espionage activity in the Middle East activate in order to stop any immediate threats to U.S. assets in the region.
The EU's breakdown of relations with Turkey
3/ Turkey and Germany used to be friends and Turkish labor rebuilt both Germanys in the 1960s and 1970s. West Germany also had British and Irish builders, while East Germany had Cuban, Angolan, Vietnamese and Mozambique laborers.
Things started to go wrong in 1990 when West Germans had some fights with the Irish and Brits, as well as slamming the East German plan to give Turks Visa free access to the GDR lead to protests from the FRG, who claimed it was a plot to flood them with Turks.
between March 30th and April 2nd, 1990. With in days 200 E. German skinheads football rioted and beat up some Turks in E. Berlin, an Angolan was racial assaulted in East Berlin, several Turks were burnt out of a hostel in Rostok and a Brit was beaten up in West Berlin.
Over 500 Turkish Kurds that were fleeing the then low level separatist conflict were stranded in Czechoslovakia after being refused their admission into W. Germany on Jun 13th, 1990.
Turkish soccer thugs in the early 2000s and the rise of the authoritarian leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan aggravated the situation further.
Both Turkey and Germany began threat constructing in the mid 2000s. Turkey blamed Europe, the PKK, the PYK, the EU and Syria's civil war; whilst the EU blamed immigrants, the Syrian part of the 2008 economic crash, the rise of UKIP and the Turks for all woes. Both said it was grounds for extraordinary political powers and also soft neo-Nazisum in Europe. As a result Islamists gained popularity in Turkey, whilst Nazis and Popularisum took off in the EU.
The Syrian–Turkish border incidents during the Syrian civil war, the the 2014-to date immigration crisis, Islamophobia in Europe, The 2016 Turkish coup, censorship of Google and the politcaly motivated the closure of popular Cumhuriyet newspaper made things worse on all sides.
President Erdoğan used all this conflict as a reason for holding a referendum on becoming a dictator in all but name, while Europe said ethnic Turks were behind all the Islamic terror attacks in Europe; which they weren't, since one of the attacks in Germany was made by an Iranian, and so on. Germany gave asylum to his rivals and arrested a Turkish Journalist. Turkey then briefly detained a German journalist in revenge.
2016 Turkish electoral campaigning, 2017 referendum and visits by state officials was banned in Germany and the Netherlands. OK, the Köln hall may have been too small, but why did they not find another venue, and the only reason the Turks rioted in the Netherlands when the Minister for Women's affairs turns up was because the Dutch wanted to kick her out. Both nation's governments used this as an excuses to align with the neo-Nazis (which gained support due to this), hate the UK, hate Turkey, condone Nazi-leaning Hungary and slip towards dictatorship via a one-party state (a government-Nazi cabal that are in cahoots behind the scenes). The Turkish president upset both by saying in mid-March that the Dutch and German governments were Nazis.
Germany moved its airmen out of Turkey and into Jordan as an act of revenge, causing much chaos for NATO for about 2 months.
Relations crashed in July 2017 as Turkey arrested several human rights activists. The UN, EU, NATO and the victim nations complained. Germany accused Turkey of taking hostages and that German tourists had to stay out or expect being kidnapped by Turkey's secret police. Turkey condemned this and later put several ex-Cumhuriyet journalists on trial for treason after the paper had found out that Turkey was covertly smuggling arms into Syria in side aid trucks. Turkey also drops its probe into German firms backing terrorism in Turkey.
America's NSA spied between 2004-2014 on the communications of:
- French President Francois Hollande (2012–2016),
- French President Nicolas Sarkozy (2007–2012),
- French President Jacques Chirac (1995–2007),
- French cabinet ministers (2004-2014),
- The French Ambassador to the United States (2004-2014).
Rumors also swilled around in the UK tabloids between 1981 and 1982 of 3 snooping devices in 'Golf-ball' class radomes peering at the radio phone/fax communications of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in 1981 and François Mitterrand between 1981 and 1982.
Whilst all NATO members do occasional snoop on each other just in case of an undetected covert plot forming from with-in another member state, constantly harassing France would have brought into question whether the USA ever trusted it, explaining why it left NATO under General Charles DeGalle, but still remained a western ally.
2013 NSA lead American spying scandal, et al
Canadian government allowed the largest American spy agency to conduct widespread surveillance in Canada during the 2010 G8 and G20 summits.
Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Belgian and France bulk spied on people's phone calls between 2011 and 2014.
A NSA lead American spying scandal shook the world in 2013 and it continued into 2014. At no time did anyone outside of the spy organisations thesauri it and they also spied on President Obama at times.
President Obama and Chancellor Merkel were spied on by the NSA in 2013.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) spied on President Obama in 2013.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (the BfV), had access to the NSA's online spying XKeyscore Program, and used the program to spy on German citizens as of August.
America officially spied on Turkey, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgian, France and Germany in 2013.
The UK officially spied on Germany, France and Spain in 2013.
Germany and Brazil asked the UN to stop American on-mass online spying in late 2013, to no avail, as the USA procrastinated and obviscated at the UN.
A senior official said on October 30, 2013 that President Barack Obama was considering banning US spies from tapping the telephones of allied leaders, in the wake of German outrage over alleged snooping on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s communications, but this was never carried out.
Spain had on the October 31, 2013 revealed that Portugal is just below Britain, Canada, Italy, Spain, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand in Washington’s circle of trust focused on the sharing of citizens’ data on a bilateral level. Spain's contribution had covered 60 million Spanish phone calls.
Google and Yahoo Inc. were spied on by the NSA as of November 2013.
The Washington DC anti-online spying rally took place on 27/10/2013.
The letter was signed by AOL Inc., Apple Inc., Facebook Inc., Google Inc., LinkedIn Corp., Microsoft Corp., Twitter Inc. and Yahoo! asking the American government for stricter rules on online spying in the December of 2013. Inc.
Both GCHQ and the NSA used Google cookies and GooglePrefIDs to spy on people as of December 2013. The NSA also collected data off of Verizon, Google, Angry Birds gaming site's iPhone and Android Apps, etc.
All iPhones running iOS 4.0 or later log your location to a file called "consolidated.db" (a plain SQL file) which contains latitude-longitude coordinates and a timestamp.
Germany's interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich told people to stop using Facebook and Google on 3 July 2013 since America regularly spies on them.
Germany's government has asked America's top spy chief stationed in the country to leave on charges of spying in 2014.
Germany was caught spying on British, Spanish, Italian, French, Czech, Hungarian, Belgian, Dutch, Canadian and American ambassadors to Germany "for years" in 2016.
Germany's BND, its equivalent of MI5, officially extended its surveillance and counter-espionage operations to all foreign intelligence agencies operating on German soil in the February of 2017.
Wikileaks claimed in the March of 2017 that the CIA and GCHQ could take over internet connected satnavs in cars, Whats App can be recorded in unencoded format by them and that Samsung TVs speakers to a microphones by them. CGNT then claimed Wair-Wei, ZTX and Sisco Systems modems were hacked a few days later.
Several nations that spent under 2% of their budgets on defense.
Budget cuts meant that the UK and Germany spent under 2% of its budget (1.8%) on defense in 2014, thus breaking NATO defense spending rules. The USA had spent 4% and Greece spent 3%, while Lithuania, Estonia, Croatia, France Albania, Bulgaria and Romania had each, raised between 2% and 3%. Both Germany and the UK raised it to just over 2% after America condemned them for letting the side down. The UK also responded by a heavy upgrading the Faslane nuclear base, in Scotland, during 2015-16. On hearing about this, the SNP got all England-phobic and were, like CND, upset by the idea of nuclear warfare anyhow. President Obama then accused the UK government of doing it again in 2015-2016. America's defence minister revealed it happened again in 2016-17, with only the USA, UK Estonia, Poland and Greece hitting the 2% target; with France, Turkey, Spain, the Czech Republic, Croatia and Canada being close to it.
Only four countries spent 2% or more in in 2013, they were:- Estonia, Greece, the USA and the UK. France and Poland were just below at 1.9% and 1.8% respectively.
The figures for 2001 were:- Greece ~ 4.25%, Turkey ~3.75%, USA 3.25%, Bulgaria ~2.75%, France and Romania ~2.60%, UK ~2.5, Croatia ~ 2.40%, Slovenia ~ 2.05%, Portugal ~2.0% and Czech Republic 1.95% in 2001.
The figures for 2011 were:- USA ~4.0%, Greece ~3.0%, UK ~2.90%, Albania 2.25%, France 2.15%, Poland 1.95% and Estonia ~1.90% in 2011.
America's general post-Cold War attitude the the EU member states
Recent history suggests they regard European NATO members, Turkish, S. Koreans and Australians as cannon fodder in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (unlike Korea and Vietnam) since they now don't have the national courage to do more than send in cruise missiles, bomber jets, special forces and armed UAVs!
Apparently any latter-day European hot Cold War scenario, unlike a Cold War era hot Cold War scenario in Caribbean/Cuban, is of less concern to them since mostly W. European civilian lives that would be lost and so they would not care as much about an attack in Europe. The EU could have stood alone as of 2002 if the EU had pooled its forces under a unified joint command/!
Alleged NGO special plots and spy jobs in Russia
Pressure has mounted on NGOs since about 2012 due to claims they were full of enemy spies, lied about Russia and spread miss formation to both Russians and there home nations as parts of and Anglo-American world take over plot. If it is proven true, then NATO broke the rules on posing as NGOs/ICRC/UN workers and/or hijacking the local mission's work-plan whilst doing so.
Syria, et al
Syrian–Turkish border incidents during the Syrian civil war
The Syrian army fired an artillery shell fired from Syria and thus killed 5 and injured at least 10 Turkish citizens in the border town of Akçakale in Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey. This was known as the October 2012 Syrian-Turkish border clashes. Others occurred in 2013 and 2014 and a Turkish aircraft was shot down on the border in 2011.
Following Ankara's invocation of Article IV of the Washington Treaty, NATO's North Atlantic Council stated that the alliance.
Several MIM-104 Patriot missiles from Netherlands, Germany, and U.S. were sent to Turkey and went active on the Turkish border with Syria. They were joined by a Spanish unit in 2014.
The UK, Italy and I think Canada also, apparently denounced this and later refused to help. If they did not offer any covert help either and relay meant to see Turkey swing, they breaching their duty to help Turkey in its hour of need.
NATO feuding over Syria
- The West, the Gulf countries and Turkey support sported the FSA.
- The YPG has help from the Peshmerga and PKK.
- Russia, China and Iran support the ruling Bashar al-Assad regime.
- The US is opposed to the radicalised Syrian Jihadist and ISIL, so they are putting pressure on Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to stop supporting them.
- Turkey is fighting on the opposite side to the rest of NATO in the conflict with the YPG and thus a traitor. NATO backs the YPG.
- France is fighting on the opposite side to the rest of NATO in the conflict with ISIS and thus a traitor. NATO has folded up and fled from ISIS.
- America's jolting from one side to the other over Turkey\YPG war is both stupid, inflammatory and\or spineless.
UK inaction in Syria
Despite the UK government saying the 3 2016 brimstone missiles and the ~10 2015 laser-guided bombs were a war winning blow, despite being vastly less damaging than the arsenal the French, Americans and Aussies used! The UK was regularly belittling the USA and France's war effort with out due cause!
Russian forces in Syria
A Russian naval tanker Osipov was dined entry into the port of Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in Morocco, to resupply due to American and British threats to boot it from NATO. The rest of the Russian fleet included the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetzov, a battle-cruiser, a destroyer, an anti-submarine ship and support vessels. America and the UK have repeatedly threatened to sink it with out consulting or being concerned about the opinions or needs of the rest of NATO. The Russian fleet left with it in late 2016.
The Russian air force spent most of December 2016 and January 2017 wiping out the rebels in Aleppo. NATO condemned the bock bombing and then did nothing when Russia ignored them. Turkey joined with the Russians at times in 2016 and became formal allies in January 2017. The Americans occasionally bombed the Russians troops in late 2016. It was allegedly a friendly fire insolent, but Russia, Assad's Ba'athists, Turkey, Iraqi's government, the Kurdish factions, the FSA side and the EL Nusra Front all said the incidents were a deliberate act at times.
Turkey and Russia make an alliance
Turkey bought a Russian S-400 anti-missile system and a new military radar unit in the September of 2017 after NATO refused to co-operate and Turkey thought China's attitude towards them was poor. Turkey and Russia promised not to have a repeat of the 2015 incident when a Russia Su-24 jet was shot down on a secret mission as it covertly cut through Turkey en route.
American and Turkish proxy-forces
Right from the start of the civil war, the USA backed the Moist YPG and Turkey backed the democratic FSA. Tensions increased greatly over this in mid 2018.
Iraq, et al
For more on military and political actions in Iraq, see- Time line of Iraq.
Anglo-French inaction in Iraq
Australia, France, Britain and the Netherlands intervened against ISIL in 2014 along side the USA, Kurdistan and Iraq. The USA continued its special opp's\missile\air-power war. the Aussies mostly left when they thought there day was done, but continued to back up the USA air-power and special opp's war. France left when they though their day was done. The Dutch left when they had run low on resources. Operation Shaddar got a reputation for being portrayed as WW3, but relay being a few Brimstone missiles and a few military advisers training local forces in Iraq and Syria.
Turkey, France, Iraq and the USA stand alone in Mosul
Mosul (Arabic: الموصل al-Mōṣul, local pronunciation: el-Mōṣul, Syriac: ܡܘܨܠ, translit'. Māwṣil) is a city of normally about two and a half million people (2014 est.) in northern Iraq, occupied since 10 June 2014 by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The Iraqi forces, Iraqi militias and Kurds make major advances. The British claimed all the initial glory, but the USA revealed they are the NATO member who, along with Australia, turned in the battles. The British establishment and media respond with the usual mantra that the Sunnis must be given all power in Iraq or the UK will back up their plans to create one by force (See how the Western nations backed Saddam's Ba'athist regime and parts of the the EU backed ISIS regime). The EU upped its plans to blame the refugees for the actions of ISIS agents in Europe and the plan to violently expel them to Greece and\or Turkey.
Turkey's retaliation in mid 2017 was to stop German officials doing the same with German airmen at Incirlik Air Base. Germany responded with a racist and hypocritical diplomatic sniping.
Turkish and Azeri Wikipedia were blocked by Turkey as of mid 2017.
Troop numbers (2015)-
- Iraq (68,000–70,000 troops)
- Iraqi Kurdistan (40,000 troops)
- CJTF–OIR troops
- Shi'ite and Sunni Iraqi militia troops
- United States (500 troops and cyber warfare experts)
- United Kingdom (about 14 fighter-bomber aircraft, 50 troops and cyber warfare experts)
- France (500 troops and a fighter-bomber aircraft)
- Canada (270 declared troops +undisclosed number of electronic warfare specialists)
- Australia (80 troops and cyber warfare experts)
- Denmark (Minimal number)
- Turkey ("Thousands" of troops)
- Germany (Minimal numbers)
Toxic food scandals
The 'Toxic cucumbers affair'
The 'Toxic eggs affair'
Poland, Slovakia and Hungary become malignant
Since the 2008 economic crisis occurred their demands for aid rose and undemocratic policies gained traction. Since the 2014-to date immigration crisis they refused to take most of their quota of refugees and Hungry sealed its border with a massive razor wire fence. The EU slammed this and the regimes in question, as well as the Hungarian people, soon slipped into a neo-Nazi and\or Roman Catholic Clero-Fascist mindset.
By 2015, co-operation with the EU was minimal except for sucking in aid (along with NATO troops) and spewing Polish 'economic immigrants' (actually colonial settlers) into the UK and Germany. Poland mass ganged its media as of mid 2016.
The EU warned them to play by the EU rules or face sanctions since mid 2016 and May 2017 saw Poland got a particularly heavy rebuke.
The 2016 Turkish coup
The airforce, a couple of navel bases, some warships, the Presidential Guard and large parts of the 1st Army tried to stage a coup under the alleged unofficial support of the USA, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the EU.
America and the EU had condemned the Gulanis Army/air-force coup against president Euduan, who they accused of being a closet Islamist and an autocrat, when it was winning, but then slammed the Turkish government for winning and offered informal support to those elements that were operating in there countries. The EU was legally obliged by EU law (the EU does not allow the death penalty) to threaten to cancel Turkish EU applicant status after it threatened hold mass executions after its heavy purge. The USA threatened to boot it out of NATO as well, dispute NATO no having a death penalty policy or caring what previous Turkish regimes had got up to trouble on the domestic front.
The Turkish president was banned from visiting or teleconferencing\teleaddressing ethnic Turks in Germany. Germany started desperately trying to collapses all remaining relations between them since the Germans had become virulently anti-Turkish since Circa 2010 and Turkey, like Hungary, had backed the Brexit in 2015. The USA was concerned the Turkish regime was going paranoid and that the Gulanists were being used as a scapegoat.
The 2016-2017 casus foederis debacle.
Article 5 of the NATO treaty is its casus foederis. It commits each member state to consider an armed attack against one member state to be an armed attack against them all.
Some prominent people the USA, Poland, Canada, Hungary and the UK slammed this plan. Most NATO nations have now questioned the clause and regard its use as a tool for inflicting their will on the rest of Europe, Canada and the CIS, not mutual defence from an outside invasion or a rogue NATO state.
Nigel Farange regarded it as a vassal army that is to be cannon foddered in lieu of UK forces in a war involving the UK. He would treat the USA like a colony, to the dismay of the USA.
Donald Trump demanded all nations pay up their owed membership fees and spend a minimum of 2% of GDP on defense or face exultation. Japan was expected to pay for the U.S. bases on its soil and develop atomic arms before it could enter NATO, despite Japan being morally opposed to nukes.
Turkey and Greece know no one wants to defend them from attack, unless it is an attack by ISIS\ISIL\IS\Daesh.
Visa arrangements ended between Turkey and the USA on October 9th, 2017, after Turkish police arrested an American diplomat in the American embassy to Turkey they thought was a Gulumist agent.
The May 2017 Manchester bombing
Much of America's press either recklessly or deliberately leaked case sensitive pictures and bomb related details in order to undermine the police investigation.
Angelia Merkel's 2017 political comments
Angelia Merkel said that Europe "Can no longer rely on allies" after Trump and Brexit in the, the EU that they “must take its fate into its own hands.”, “The times in which we could completely depend on others are on the way out. I’ve experienced that in the last few days,” and declares both the USA and UK Germany's mortal enemies of Germany in the May of 2017.
EU vs Google
The EU fined Google severally in 2017 for running an unfair search engine\browser monopoly in Europe. The EU soon confessed that it was only out to make money and be spiteful and xenophobic to the USA, and would have acted even if Goggle had been innocent anyhow.
Swiss, Danish and Russian shenanigans
January 31st, 2017 saw the Russians hack the Czech diplomats computers, but no-one cared about it.
Swiss Military Intelligence was discovered to be both physically-spying and cyber-spying on Germany in the April of 2017. It was soon followed by unproven claims of commercial and political spying in Germany by the Danish Security and Intelligence Service.
A suspected Russia-backed hackers target Baltic states' energy networks on May 11th, 2017.
The December 2017 NATO Norwegen exercise
The 40 or so troops were sent on a mission to hunt down a pretend runaway captive. The wanted notice had the Turkish president's name (proven) and said he was a Turk (alleged). Norway has apologised for the callus oversight to NATO's dismay.
Donald Trump vs Casus (or code) foederis
American President Donald Trump indicated in a Mid 2018 NATO summit that he opposed the Casus (or code) foederis and suggested that the USA would let Europe die in time of war so as to save the USA's own selfish interests. Montenegro and Albania were known to be fist on the list of nations he wished to betray, believing they could win a war on thire own.
Donald Trump vs 2% of budgets spent on defense
American President Donald Trump suggested in a Mid 2018 NATO summit that members spend 4% of their budgets on defense.
The pending collapse of the member nations?
The author estimates 8 nations will not be with in any shape to function as meaningful members by 2025.
- Turkey- A Kurdish/Maoist/Army rebellion and became a rogue state. ISIS is bombing it on occasion also.
- UK- Economic collapse and a government plundering the national reserves. Scotland secedes?
- Greece- Economic collapse and a government plundering the national reserves.
- America- A White population that is in part forming into hate-filled abomination, who is slipping into ethnic and sectarian civil war Blacks and Latinos. It is already hopelessly over run with street gangs, visual-antis and mobsters, who's power will soon grow to uncontrollable levels. It will soon (especially under the the pending civil war between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump) verge on all out war with China, N. Korea, Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, Canada and Mexico.... California and Cascadia secedes?
- Germany- A rogue state that is obsessed with ruining America's plans and extorts money of the nations of Europe. Bavaria secedes?
- Canada- A rogue state under the Harper regime, that was obsessed with ruining America's plans. Quebec and Alberta secede.
- Poland- Finally got what it always wanted, a hopeless war with Russia. Sadly Poland gets stuffed!
- Latvia- The Latgale region could rebel and be liberated by Russia. The rest of the nation would inevitably then be annexed by Russia and became a Russian colony.
The European missile shield
It was part of a larger defense system, which was also to have bee based in several East Asian states like Japan to see off ballistic missile attacks by N. Korea, Iran, Syria and Iraq (if they go off the rails and ISIS/IS/ISL win in the latter 2). Russia has several genuine, if rather paranoid, concerns over it. China is also got a bit worried about it at first.
America withdrew from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in the June 2002, leading to its termination. The United States refused to help clam Russia down, let them share technology, agree to international inspectors or to use a viable former Soviet-come-Russian radar-base in Azerbaijan instead of the planned one in Turkey. The Americans also appeared to have hated the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty anyhow.
NATO's European nations called for a NATO wide missile defence system during the April of 2007. In response, the then Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin claimed that such a large scale deployment could lead to a new arms race and could enhance the likelihood of mutual destruction.
He also suggested that his country would freeze its compliance with the 1990 Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) (which both the USA and Russia apparently hated it) until all the then NATO countries had ratified the adapted CFE treaty. The Americans' plans to create new bases in Romania and Bulgaria had, according to Russian officials, constituted a breach of the treaty.
In August 2008, Poland and the United States signed a preliminary deal to place part of the missile defence shield in Poland that would be linked to a high definition x-band air-defence radar in the Czech Republic. More than 130,000 Czechs signed a petition for a referendum on the base. The Radar was later sighted in Romania and Turkey during 2010.
Russia's ambassador to Denmark wrote a letter to the editor of Jyllandsposten. on 20 March 2015, warning that their participation in project would make their warships targets of Russian nuclear missiles. Later Denmark's former foreign relations minister, Holger K. Nielsen, commented that they would have known this wartime and probably been targets anyway due to recent low flying incidents by Russian Airforce.
America's President Barack Obama cancelled the deployment of long-range missile defence interceptors and equipment in Poland and the Czech Republic on 17 September 2009, favouring both short- and medium-range missiles using AEGIS warships of the coast of Spain, Libya would, Malta, Southern Libya and Greece instead.
The then Russian President Dimitri Medvedev announced that a proposed Russian Iskander surface to surface missile deployment in nearby Kaliningrad would also not go ahead.
2015 saw the opening of an interceptor missile base and radar in Poland that was anti-Russian in nature as a result of fears over the invasion of Ukraine.
Russian combat aircraft make mock bombing raids, at first with there transponders off, until global aviation boffins complained, on the ever swelling NATO fleat off the Baltic States.
President Putin visited Finland, who's people had recently started to drift towards the idea of joining NATO, in 2016 and dropped the implied threat that if they joined it, then Russia would invade them. Denmark also leads a small band of rapid reaction troops that are sent to Lithuania just in case things went bad a few weeks later.
China is concerned over a similar system in S. Korea and Japan that is aimed at N. Korea.
- Arab League
- Warsaw Pact
- European Union
- Soviet/NATO invasion of Finland
- SOSUS sonar buoy line
- Atomic War
- Atomic warfare information notes.
- Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948
- Marshall Plan
- The 5 Eyes
- Volkel Air Base
- Batajnica Air Base
- USAF Strategic Air Command
- Air Materiel Command
- Secretary-General of NATO
- Allied Air Command İzmir
- Allied Land Command
- United States Air Force Security Service (USAFSS)
- Secretary-General of NATO
- Northern Army Group (NORTHAG)
- British Army of the Rhine (BAOR)
- Ramstein Air Base
- 5.56x45mm standard NATO round
- Chinese 5.8x42mm
- Soviet 5.45x39mm
- Joint Operations Center Maastricht (JOC Maastricht)
- Static War Headquarters Castlegate in Linnich, Germany
- NATO (World political shenanigans)
- Secretary-General of NATO
- NATO command structures and HQs
- Soviet/NATO invasion of Finland
- Skynet IV\Skynet 4 (AKA: "NATO-4")
- NATO's Baltic Air Policing Unit
- Exercise Reforger
- Deutsches Institut für Normung
- Secretary-General of NATO
- NATO command structures and HQs
- Exercise Nifty Nugget/Operation Nifty Nugget
- Izmir Air Station
- Greenham Air Base
- NATO (World political shenanigans)
- Secretary-General of NATO
- NATO command structures and HQs
- Soviet/NATO invasion of Finland
- Skynet IV\Skynet 4 (AKA: "NATO-4")
- United States European Command (EUCOM)
- US Central Command (CENTCOM)
- US Africa Command (AFRICOM)
- NATO's Baltic Air Policing Unit
- Operation Square Leg (1980) and Exercise Hard Rock (1982)
- POMCUS (Prepositioning Of Materiel Configured in Unit Sets) sites
- Izmir Air Station
- Çiğli Air Base