Pressenza was approached by Russia Today to give the agency’s opinion about NATO troop movements in Romania, following previous movements between the Baltic countries and Germany passing through Poland and the Czech Republic which we previously highlighted earlier this year.
Here are the answers we provided to their written questions. The full interview on TV, which varies slightly from the written answers, can be seen here.
RT: One of the NATO commanders says the purpose of this ride through Romania is to reassure the country. Do you think the people of Romania need this type of reassurance?
Pressenza: What the people of Romania, and the whole of Europe including Russia need is to live in peace and stability. In fact we are all desperately in need of this, not just in this continent but all around the world. A great opportunity was wasted at the end of the Cold War to dissolve the military alliances of the time. Only half the job was done. NATO was never put into retirement and military commanders in the USA and elsewhere have permanently looked for a reason to keep it alive. In these days this reason comes in the form of Russia which has been baited incessantly. Russia reacted. The incorporation of Crimea into the Russian Federation is just what the US military industry was dreaming of. It doesn’t matter to the West that Crimea joined freely and enthusiastically in a plebiscite of the people.
Going back to the question, what the people of Romania need is to not have their government dedicate, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the equivalent of 2.8 billion dollars on military spending in 2014. This is criminal when there are so many other human needs.
RT: This isn’t the first show of force in Eastern Europe – close to Russian borders. What do you think is the message being sent here?
The message being sent here, and the image being painted in the Western Media, and especially in Eastern Europe, is that “The Russians are coming”. NATO wants us all to be terrified that an enemy is coming so that the military industry can continue to make bumper profits at everyone else’s expense. It’s a terrible manipulation of the people who have only a few sources of information available in their own language, nearly all in the hands of media companies colluding with that same military industry.
RT: And what kind of reaction do you think this is getting from Moscow?
Actually it appears to me that the reaction from Moscow is quite restrained, given the level of bullying they are receiving. There have been reports of troop movements around the border of Ukraine since the Ukraine conflict started which may or may not be true, but Putin’s words seem to be quite reasonable. If the USA stopped it’s beligerent attitude and went to speak sincerely about peace and security I think it’s quite likely that Moscow would listen.
The USA does not recognise the global reality. It is no longer the world’s economic power. New forces are emerging and the BRICS alliance is a very interesting demonstration effect of how global politics could be. If the USA saw those countries truly as partners, and sought to work with them, instead of seeking to exploit them, the whole world would change.
Right now at the UN there is the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty review conference taking place and the P5 members of the UN Security Council refuse to move in terms of disarmament and this is entirely due to the US foreign policy of seeing Russia and China as threats that need to be contained militarily.
RT: The NATO Secretary-General says that the alliance is boosting its defenses to Cold War levels due to a more assertive Russia. Are these types of concerns justified?
They are justified if you make profit from war, they are not justified if our priority as humankind is to live in peace and create security, and deal with the crucial issues of our times which are climate change and the threats of nuclear war.
