NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg addressed the US Congress on Wednesday,
and continued to push the familiar narrative of Russia posing a broad,
multi-faceted, but largely undefined “threat,” and that only the NATO
alliance would be able to stop them.
This is a popular excuse for Western officials trying to justify growing
military spending and aggressive posture, and particularly when
addressing the US Congress, claiming a threat by Russia is usually a
winning strategy.
Stoltenberg gave lip-service to the idea that NATO might have to deploy
nuclear missiles into Europe to target Russia, saying that they didn’t
intend to do so but might have to for deterrence purposes.
Congress was a perfect audience for this perspective, repeatedly giving
standing ovations to the NATO chief, and ending the speech by
reiterating America’s commitment to the alliance.
NATO Chief Hypes Russian ‘Threat’ in Speech to US Congress
Says alliance will be needed 'even more in the future'
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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