NATO Chief: Weapons of Mass Destruction threat is real and growing
dandelion salad | 28.03.2010 14:37 | Anti-militarism | Anti-racism | Other Press | World
Seven years later, the head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) points the finger at the next target by declaring that the threat of proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction “has remained largely abstract” until now, but it is “real and growing”.
NATO Secretary General Rasmussen speaking at the Brussels Forum, 27 March 2010
NATO Chief: Weapons of Mass Destruction threat is real and growing
[propaganda alert]
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excerpts from: Building a Euro-Atlantic Security Architecture
Speech by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the Brussels Forum conference on 27 March 2010
NATO website, 27 March 2010
“NATO invoked Article 5 (*) for the first time ever after the terrorist attacks of “9/11”. And it took the lead of the International Security Assistance Force [ISAF] in Afghanistan. […]
But terrorism is not the only manifestation of our new security environment. There are other threats that we need to guard against.
One of them is the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and their means of delivery. Up to now, that threat has remained largely abstract. But a look at current trends shows that the proliferation threat is real and growing […]
Iran is a case in point. […] Iran has gone far beyond what is necessary for a purely civilian [nuclear] programme. […]
Iran also has an extensive [ballistic] missile development programme. Statements from Iranian officials declare the range of their modified Shahab-3 [ballistic] missiles to be 2000 kilometres. That will already put [NATO-] Allied countries such as Turkey, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria within reach. […]
If Iran were to complete [the development of intermediate- and intercontinental range ballistic missiles] […] , then the whole of the European continent, as well as all of Russia, would be in range.
Proliferators [of Weapons of Mass Destruction] must know that we are unwavering in our determination to collective defence (*) . That includes nuclear deterrence.
But confronted with the spread of missile technology, and unpredictable regimes and leaders, we owe it to our populations to complement our [conventional and nuclear] deterrence capabilities with an effective [ballistic] missile defence capability. […]
[W]ith the new US approach to [ballistic] missile defence there are now much better opportunities for an effective NATO-wide system”
(*) Article 5 of The North Atlantic Treaty (1949) states that an attack on any NATO member country is an attack on all of NATO.
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from the archives:
US official: Turkey has international responsibilities that extend beyond its immediate neighbourhood
by Cem Ertür, Dandelion Salad, 17 March 2010
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Rasmussen In Poland: Expeditionary NATO, Missile Shield And Nuclear Weapons
by Rick Rozoff, Dandelion Salad, 14 March 2010
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NATO’s role in the military encirclement of Iran
by Rick Rozoff, Dandelion Salad, 10 February 2010
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Israel: Global NATO’s 29th member
by Rick Rozoff, Dandelion Salad, 17 January 2010
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NATO’s secret transatlantic bond: Nuclear weapons in Europe
by Rick Rozoff, Dandelion Salad, 3 December 2009
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Israel: Forging NATO missile shield, rehearsing war with Iran
by Rick Rozoff, Dandelion Salad, 5 November 2009
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Obama: President Bush was right that Iran’s ballistic missile program poses a significant threat
by Cem Ertür, Dandelion Salad, 18 September 2009
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The US-NATO preemptive nuclear doctrine: Trigger a Middle East nuclear holocaust to defend “the western way of life”
by Michel Chossudovsky, Dandelion Salad, 11 February 2008
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dandelion salad
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http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2010/03/27/nato-chief-weapons-of-mass-destruction-threat-is-real-and-growing/