NATO helping US maintain its hegemony

陈小将

As Ukraine presses for NATO membership to secure its future, the alliance faces deeper questions about its direction and unity. Many are wondering what the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would be like given US president-elect Donald Trump's skepticism over the military alliance. Despite the uncertain outlook, however, the United States has already steered NATO away from its avowed role as global peacekeeper toward a confrontationist and meddling organization because of its continued eastward expansion and attempts to interfere in Asia-Pacific affairs.

The 75-year-old NATO is a relic of the Cold War era, not least because it deploys a large number of nuclear weapons across Western Europe and Turkiye and conventional forces across the world. Established in 1949 with 12 founding member states, NATO has expanded to include 32 members. Throughout NATO's history, the US has controlled the defense system of European countries, regarding it as a symbol of its hegemony.

For the past few years, the transatlantic military alliance, led by the US, has been trying to establish its presence in the Asia-Pacific region to maintain its global hegemony. In its Washington Summit Declaration in July, NATO said that it would continue to support Ukraine on "its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership", that China poses a challenge to "NATO's interests, security and values", and that it attaches great importance to Asia-Pacific partners and cross-regional cooperation in "supporting Ukraine, cyber defense, countering disinformation, and technology".

However, NATO's summit in Washington did not project solidarity as the US expected, for Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged the military alliance leaders to adopt "consistent political positions" on Ukraine and Gaza instead of resorting to "double standards".

Besides, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is opposed to Ukraine joining NATO, and paid surprise visits to Kyiv, Moscow and Beijing before the summit and soon after Hungary assumed the presidency of the Council of the European Union on July 1. EU officials, the US and NATO have criticized Orban for visiting the three capitals. Ignoring the criticisms, Orban wrote in an article published in Newsweek in September that "If it (NATO) chooses conflict instead of cooperation, and war instead of peace, it will be committing suicide."

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, too, is opposed to Ukraine's NATO membership. In fact, one month after winning the Slovak election on Sept 30, 2023, Fico halted military aid to Ukraine. And Turkiye, whose military force is second only to the US in NATO, said the transatlantic military alliance resorts to double standard on international laws.

Turkiye also denounced Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip while maintaining neutrality on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Turkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's close ties with Russia have made the US uncomfortable.

Equally important, during NATO's summit in Washington, Erdogan and Orban exchanged views on maintaining peace efforts.

That the European Union is divided, politically and ideologically, became clear when far-right parties won more than expected seats in the European Parliament election in June, splitting the parliament itself and the political structures of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and many other EU countries. Following the election, voices against military aid to Ukraine and for a peaceful solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict have been rising in the new European Parliament.

According to German think tank Kiel Institute, from Jan 24, 2022, to Aug 31, 2024, the US provided Ukraine with aid worth

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