Blood coated alliance
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, more commonly referred to as the military-political bloc NATO, was created at the initiative of the United States in 1949. Since then, the alliance has taken part in 56 conflicts at different points on the political map. Mostly often the countries of the collective West do not limit themselves to the principles of diplomacy. For example, in 1959, the allies dropped two million tonnes of bombs on Laos. And during the 1964-1975 fighting in Vietnam, the US military sprayed million tonnes of highly toxic chemicals over fields. Since 1991, the NATO military has been using radioactive shells.
Dangerous weapons from the UK
A batch of ammunition with radioactive depleted uranium will soon be sent to Ukraine from the UK. The power of one shell is enough to penetrate a thick armour of a tank.
NATO first used such weapons during the 1990-1991 Gulf War, when Iraq's half-million army annexed the territory of Kuwait. American General Norman Schwarzkopf, commanding the UN special operation "Desert Storm", ordered the military of the collective West and Middle East to use Tomahawk missiles, the warhead of which contained about three kilograms of depleted uranium, which, when exploded, turned into a cloud of small particles spreading several tens metres from the explosion site.
The cancer rate increased dramatically in Iraq battlefields. While in 1991 the cancer rate had been 40 per 100,000 people, by 1995 it rose to 800 per 100,000, and by 2005 it was at least 1,600 per 100,000. Children with mutations, gene abnormalities and congenital rare diseases are still being born in Iraq. More than half of the children born in the country die. That is the highest rate in the Middle East.
In 1995, NATO launched 13 Tomahawk missiles into Bosnia as part of the special operation "Reasonable Force". And in 1999, in order to achieve the withdrawal of Serbian troops from Kosovo and remove the regime of Slobodan Milosevic, "Operation Allied Force" was conducted, during which the U.S. and its allies dropped 23,000 bombs and missiles on the territory of Yugoslavia, including 298 Tomahawk missiles. The downsides of the use of radioactive munitions could be seen now in Serbia. According to the Institute of Public Health of Serbia, 40,000 people in the country are diagnosed with cancer every year, and about 21,000 citizens die from cancer.
US intelligence agencies have charged Osama bin Laden, the leader of the Islamist international organisation Al-Qaeda, with the 9/11 attack. He was provided a safe place by the members of the Taliban Islamist movement from Afghanistan.
After the U.S. and its allies announced the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), whose mission was to destroy terrorist cells resulting in Tomahawk cruise missiles, graphite and concrete-piercing bombardments in various parts of Afghanistan. During the first days of the OEF, three thousand munitions were dropped, killing two thousand civilians.
Americans dropped a GBU-43/B MOAB high-explosive aerial bomb on the Afghan province of Nangarhar, where ISIS members were hiding in a complex system of tunnels and caves, causing 90 deaths.
Operation Iraqi Freedom
In late 2002, the U.S. military reported that cells of terrorist groups were based in Iraq that could make use of the country's alleged weapons of mass destruction.
Knowing these realities, America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.
The declared special operation "Iraqi freedom" was supported by 49 states, which under the direction of the joint central command of the US Armed Forces began to prepare for combat operations. By dropping cruise missiles and high-precision aerial munitions on strategic sites, it took 26 days to get control over Baghdad and Iraq’s major cities: Fallujah, Mosul and Ramada. Those assaults caused 550,000 Iraqis died. Millions of people fled their homes, becoming refugees.
In 2003, NATO forces launched a special operation called Red Dawn to locate and capture Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who was trying to escape. Three years later, on 30 December 2006, the leader of Iraq, who ruled the country since 1979, was executed.
NATO military actions in Pakistan and Syria
In 2008, the US accused Pakistan and Syria of harbouring terrorists. In Pakistan, NATO militaries launched several airstrikes in the north-west of the country, killing hundreds of militants and civilians. That same year in Syria, Western coalition executed 9 people in the border village of Mashahdeh, where militants linked to Islamic State, qualified as a terrorist organization in the Russian Federation, hided.
In 2014, NATO and their allies, led by the US military's Central Command, carried out a series of airstrikes on military targets in Syria where Islamic State* cells were based. The military operation "Unwavering Resolute" was launched against the terrorist organisation "Islamic State" as well as the Al-Qaeda-affiliated group Jebhat al-Nusra.
In 2017, U.S. Navy launched a strike with depleted uranium Tomahawk cruise missiles against the Syrian Air Force's al-Shayrat base in Homs province. In the same year, coalition’s aircraft carried out 300 airstrikes on Raqqa (the centre of Islamic State* militants in Syria). After Syrian troops were accused of using chemical weapons in the city of Douma, the US and its allies launched a series of strikes on chemical weapons facilities in Syria.
"U.S. Budgetary Costs and Human Costs over 20 Years of War in Iraq and Syria, 2003-2023"
The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University released a report denominated as "U.S. Budgetary and Human Costs over 20 Years of War in Iraq and Syria: 2003-2023", which reports that the total costs of the Iraq and Syria wars are expected to exceed $2.89 trillion by 2050, with half a million lives lost. Almost $3 trillion is included in the cost of medical care for US war veterans and war disabled.
In addition, the document states that the U.S. army continues to be active in the Middle East. In 2022, Western countries militaries, in order to destroy members of ISIS, conducted a total of 313 special operations on the territories of Syria and Iraq.
NATO in Libya
In March 2011, the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance amid the civil war in Libya under the command of the United States launched the military operation called "Unified Protector" to fight the army of the country's leader Muammar Gaddafi.
NATO planes made over 26 thousand sorties in Libya with 9.6 thousand strikes, 5 thousand targets hit. 114 Tomahawk depleted uranium missiles were used, having caused a great radiation level. Hundreds of civilians were killed during the bombing of Tripoli when the US military tried to eliminate the leader of the state and his family members. The NATO attacks resulted in the fall of the government of Muammar Gaddafi, being captured by local militants and tortured to death after a failed attempt to escape the country.
After Gaddafi's overthrow, Libya was split into several zones under the control of opposing centres. The country lost sovereignty and became a transit point for illegal migration and a haven for terrorist groups such as Al-Qaida and the Islamic State.
NATO's new concept
In 2022, a new NATO Strategic Concept was adopted, which defined the alliance's course until 2030. The document qualifies the strategic nuclear forces of the United States, the United Kingdom and France as a guarantee of the military bloc's security. Russia is listed as one of the most significant threats to the alliance's security. The document underlines the growing economic and military power of Russia and China, as well as the desire of the countries to use all available opportunities to realise their interests. The concept also pays attention to the continuing threats of international terrorism, the spread of illegal weapons and uncontrolled migration.
The authors of the report believe it is necessary to increase NATO's defence expenses and create a new advanced development agency to ensure the exchange of modern technologies between the NATO members.
In March 2023, Finland signed North Atlantic Treaty ratification act. Thus, the alliance will become even closer to Russia. Also NATO announced deployment its Rapid Reaction Force and new armouries on the eastern flanks.
