Video: Why Canada Should Leave NATO

A Canadian Foreign Policy Institute panel

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“The Parties to this Treaty reaffirm their faith in the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and their desire to live in peace with all peoples and all governments.

They are determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilisation of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law. They seek to promote stability and well-being in the North Atlantic area.

They are resolved to unite their efforts for collective defence and for the preservation of peace and security. “

North Atlantic Treaty April 4, 1949, preamble [1]

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Originally composed of twelve nations on the date of its signing in April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) now encompasses thirty members. [2]

NATO’s purpose as an institution was to guarantee the freedom and security of its members through political and military means. The organization’s literature claims that while it seeks peaceful resolutions in troubled regions or countries, it boasts a military power apparatus capable of executing “crisis-management” operations made possible either by a United Nations mandate, or by the famous Article 5 of the Washington treaty essentially saying an attack against one nation is attack against all of them.[3][4]

Today, NATO operates an a budget of €258.9 million for civil purposes and €1.61 billion for military purposes. It’s military spending equals 57% of the global Normal total and defence spending of the constituent nation states are aiming for a target of 2% of their GDP by 2024.[5][6][7]

The organization was largely conceived principally as a bulwark against the formidable Soviet Union. Yet now more than 30 years since the Soviets collapsed, NATO is still active and expanding!

NATO has a history of waging warfare since the fall of the Berlin Wall and principally to further the interests of the Anglo-American head-honchos. In 1999 the war on Yugoslavia was waged illegally without a mandate from the United Nations, or a credible threat to any other country. In 2001, the war on Afghanistan was waged on the premise that the country via the terrorists on its soil attacked America – a charge that was never proved.

In 2011, NATO took charge of the no-fly zone over Libya which led to the destruction of that country. Today, it continues to perform war-game exercises ever closer to Russia’s frontiers dragging the world to the brink of confrontation.

Canadians have a positive opinion of their nation’s foreign policy. The nation’s apparent reluctance in joining the coalition to join the 2003 Iraq War, for example, is a sign that Canadians are not gung-ho about joining every US military adventure and only do so when the threats to democracy and human rights are high enough. But as NATO continues to demand more and more expenses at the cost of properly addressing social and environmental hazards, with the increasing use of unlimited greenhouse gas emissions, and with the spectre of nuclear weapons being used in a future military confrontation, it is time Canada really asked itself if it was time to bolt this gang of New World Order warlords.

On this week’s Global Research News Hour, we present another panel discussion courtesy of The Canadian Foreign Policy Institute entitled Why Canada Should Leave NATO.

The Canadian Foreign Policy Institute is a non-partisan organization which seeks to inform people living in Canada about the country’s diplomatic, aid, intelligence, trade and military policies abroad which are at odds with their self-portrait as a benevolent force around the world. Its director is Bianca Mugyenyi who will function as the moderator for the discussion.

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Margaret Kimberley’s Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com . Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.

 Paul Robinson is a professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa. He is the author of numerous works of Russian and Soviet history, international security, military history, and military ethics.

Ludo De Brabander is a Belgian writer and spokesman for the Belgian peace organisation Vrede vzw. He writes opinion pieces for Vrede, Uitpers, Knack.be, De Wereldmorgen and Mo.

Tamara Lorincz is a PhD student in Global Governance at the Balsillie School for International Affairs (Wilfrid Laurier University). Tamara graduated with an MA in International Politics & Security Studies from the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom in 2015. Tamara is currently on the board of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and the international advisory committee of Global Network Against Nuclear Power and Weapons in Space.

Bianca Mugyenyi is an activist, a journalist and the director of the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute. 

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Notes:

  1. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_17120.htm
  2. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_17120.htm
  3. https://www.nato.int/nato-welcome/index.html
  4. ibid
  5. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_180185.htm#:~:text=NATO%20Allies%20have%20agreed%20the%20civil%20and%20military,a%20military%20budget%20of%20%E2%82%AC1.61%20billion%20for%202021.
  6. “The SIPRI Military Expenditure Database” ; Milexdata.sipri.org. 2021.
  7. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_112985.htm

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