Anders Fogh-Rasmussen spoke to journalists in Denmark on August 15 and stressed that the Alliance would focus on its readiness to deal with the full range of threats and with NATO’s readiness. He said ”we will adopt a Readiness Action Plan to make ourselves faster and more agile”. He added that NATO leaders planned to strengthen NATO’s partners and their institutions. Fogh-Rasmussen underlined that the success of NATO would depend on all Allies investing adequately in security and defense, especially given by the new security climate created by Russia’s illegal actions in Ukraine.
”Security is like insurance: to have the best insurance you have to pay premium. We are now facing a new security situation, and the premium has gone up”, he said. Fogh-Rasmussen, a Dane, praised Denmark for its always present readiness to contribute and added operations in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Libya as examples for ”NATO’s collective defense”.
The statement is breathtaking, considering that NATO’s 25th summit in Chicago, in 2012, concluded that NATO operations in Libya in 2011 were ”a teachable moment and model for future interventions”.
This interpretation of NATO’s role in Libya stands in stark contrast, to how it was perceived by the then Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Russia, and many other UN member states. During a joint press conference with the then Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen in Copenhagen, Putin stressed that NATO had overstepped its authorization via UN Security Council Resolution 1973 (2011) on Libya.
The atmosphere between Putin and Lars Løkke Rasmussen was visibly tense. Adding to the tensions was probably, that Putin has a KGB background and must have known that Lars Løkke Rasmussen raised millions for the ”mujahedeen” and other US/NATO creations in Afghanistan during the 1980s.
Another one who would probably say ”not so fast” to NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s statement about NATO premium insurance policy is the Russian Ambassador to NATO, Vitaly Grutchko. After the collapse of Russia – EU negotiations over the Third EU Energy Package, at a meeting in Brussels in 2013, Grutchko said
”Someone here in Brussels made the most profound point by saying that if you are holding a hammer, you should not think that every emerging problem is a nail. We think that the world has ample opportunity to engage in energy cooperation and to ensure energy security without making use of military-political organizations as instruments”.
The appointment of a NATO Secretary-General helps forecast NATO long-term planning.
One example? In 1987 NATO appointed the former German Defense Minister Manfred Wörner. The appointment of Wörner was followed by the German reunification in 1990. On December 26, 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved. Wörner, Germany, and inner-German, German – Czechoslovakian and especially German-Russian relations were crucial elements to these developments. Wörner died from intestinal cancer at the age of 59 in 1994. Wörner was known to be skeptic with regards to NATO’s eastward expansion.
Denmark and Fogh-Rasmussen should come to play crucial roles in tying the former Soviet Republics in the Baltic, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania to the European Union and to NATO. Anders Fogh-Rasmussen served as Danish PM between November 27, 2001 and April 5, 2009. Centuries of close ties between the Baltic States and Denmark were crucial. In the post.9/11 climate and the Global War on Terror, Fogh-Rasmussen had come to prove that he was willing to engage Danish troops in an illegal war in Iraq. Moreover, the Danish courts rejected Danish plaintiffs who wanted Fogh-Rasmussen charged on these grounds, saying that they had no standing in court.
Because it’s so great to be on the winning team.
Danish loyalty towards NATO was relatively easy to forecast, also for historical reasons. Danes are all to aware of the fact that Denmark got ”a free ride” when Germany was defeated in WWII. Historical archives show that the then Danish Foreign Minister Peter Munch had a secret meeting with the German Reichführer ( Leader of the Realm) Heinrich Himmler in Rostock. The meeting took place in the weeks before the ”German invasion”. Munch’s son was known to be pedophile and the young man could risk jail or worse if he fell into the hands of a German prosecutor. Records which could have proven that Munch was blackmailed have in part be burned, others remain classified to this day. Danish forces mounted only symbolic resistance when German troops initiated operation “Weserübung” and occupied Denmark and Norway to “secure their neutrality”.
The Danish flag was flown during the 2014 D-Day celebrations; Not for the State but because the effort of Danish sailors during the war. The Danish historian Niels Wium Olesen noted that those Danes who knew about it probably perceived it as”a pleasant misunderstanding”, because its ”so great to be on the winning team”.
The appointment of Fogh-Rasmussen was a clear signal for NATO’s eastwards expansion, in breach with the terms agreed upon before the German reunification. That is, no NATO troops in any of the former Soviet republics or Warsaw Treaty member states.
The summit in Wales: Rockefeller money vs. continental European consensus – War or Peace?
The 2014 NATO summit in Wales will be held against the backdrop of an unprecedented risk for open war between NATO and Russia or the CSTO. Fogh-Rasmussen stressed that the insurance premium has gone up. He omits that core NATO members, especially the USA, UK, with almost absolute loyalty from Denmark, manufactured the wars in Libya and Syria since 2007; the war in Iraq since 2000 or before, and the war in Ukraine since 2012. Denmark and Anders Fogh-Rasmussen were the perfect choice ”because it’s so great to be on the winning team”.
Fogh-Rasmussen’s term as NATO Secretary-General and the current conflict in Ukraine combined, raise principle questions:
Who benefits from almost pathologically obsessive, Rockefeller-money-supported policy-makers like Zbigniev Brzezinski. In his latest book “Strategic Vision”, the Obama administration adviser argues that the Russia of Putin must be contained and isolated, that Turkey shall play a crucial role for NATO in the Middle East. Psychologically trained observers would assure that Brzezinski is obsessed with dividing Russia into independent republics and then to tie Moscow to a continental Europe under US/UK hegemony.
Who benefits from throwing a spanner into Russian – continental European relations and the provocation of a third, great European war over an subversively-created lack of convergence in EU – Russian energy-security requirements?
Will a growing continental European consensus against bellicose policy, driven by Washington and London, reach sufficient momentum to prevent a worst case scenario? Fogh-Rasmussen’s preamble to the NATO summit in Wales spells war rather than peace. It will be one of the most crucial summits the Alliance has held since it was established in 1949.
Dr. Christof Lehmann an independent political consultant on conflict and conflict resolution and the founder and editor in chief of nsnbc, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
