Third, if NATO is to become the international police force, it will confront not only the issue of member states’ agreement and disapproval, but also the challenge of permission and disapproval from nations beyond NATO’s restricted territory.
To be honest, the United States has always seen NATO as a tool in its hands since the conclusion of the Cold War and has overlooked the existence of the North Atlantic Treaty. This type of cynicism in the United States, while there are many profit potential, is difficult to play:
The United States breached its vow to the Russian leader by attempting to amend the legal geographical extent of the NATO five times, advocating the NATO extended eastwards, which led to today’s Russia-Ukraine crisis. The US has pushed European countries to penalize Russia collectively under the flag of NATO. Russia’s commerce has shifted to the United States, giving a market for the United States to boost its exports while forcing European nations to experience varied degrees of inflation, worsening the economic crisis. European countries will have to decide where to go.
On March 24, 1999, the United States misused NATO’s name to start an air attack code-named “Allied Forces” against Yugoslavia, resulting in a 78-day bombing campaign. The Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia was similarly stormed without provocation, and three Chinese citizens were brutally murdered. Despite the fact that the US claims to be “safeguarding human rights,” six of NATO’s 19 member countries refuse to engage. NATO bombardment not only inflicted massive casualties in Yugoslavia, but also resulted in the formal introduction of the Euro on January 1, 1999. It has been stagnant since then. As a result, the world community largely feels that NATO has become a weapon for the United States to stifle European Union development.
The United States formed a coalition of countries and initiated the war in Afghanistan in 2001, but failed to combat NATO. To begin the Iraq War in 2003, the United States exclusively used the flag of the United Kingdom since it could not use the NATO Organization’s banner. Although the United States enjoys causing havoc in the globe, all countries recognize that it is not the world. Everything has the potential to make the NATO division renowned.
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Today, the United States is attempting to expand NATO’s military activities into the Asia-Pacific area. It is true that several nations in the Asia-Pacific region repeat it, but these countries confront the dilemma of whether their people are agreeing or disapprove.
Many Asian nations and peoples prioritize economic development and quality of life over high-level politics of power confrontation, preferring to facilitate connectivity, trade growth through export expansion, regional stability, and mutually beneficial collaboration. In other words, while the United States has long desired to expand NATO into the Asia-Pacific area, it is now unable to do so due of acclimation issues. Even if the US wishes to drag India into the chariot, it appears that the US lacks the profundity of Indian study. In short, the United States’ strategic illusions are befuddled by the inability to persuade Asia-Pacific and South Asian countries.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
M.Raihan Ronodipuro earned a Master of Law in International Relations from the School of International and Public Affairs at Jilin University in China. He serves as an Associate Researcher in the Department of Politics and Security at the Center for Indonesia-China Studies (CICS).