Introduction:
The celebration of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)’s 75th anniversary, which was held on 11 July 2024, in Washington, the capital city of the United States of America (USA), portrays gross dissonance and lack of honesty among leaders of NATO states. While several scathing condemnations have been levelled by seasoned diplomats, academics, political commentators and publicists against NATO’s existence at the collapse of the Soviet Union; key prominent western NATO states, led by US’ fraying President, Joe Biden (Biden), has surprisingly convinced other member states to sheepishly follow the misguided policy of escalating the Ukraine-Russia conflict without improving their peoples’ sound socio-economic wellbeing. The reasons proposed by the west for escalating the conflict are purely of brazen dissonance; because, the arguments and objectives for pursuing it are grossly opposed to the reality and truth regarding the matter.
A Dissonance of the Twenty-first Century
By simple dictionary definition, dissonance is a lack or absence of reality with facts or lack of truth with facts in any given matter. Thus, relating the dissonance principle to NATO’s celebration of its 75th anniversary, coupled with the policy of escalating the Ukraine- Russia war is not only a reflection of deception by western NATO states, but also a flagrant manifestation of hypocrisy characterising the western states’ support for Ukraine. One caveat worth stating here is that: It is not the objective of this blogpost to defend Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but to outline some of the falsehoods being peddled by NATO states in an attempt to perpetuate the expensive and dangerous war against Russia; at the expense of promoting and implementing useful socio-economic projects to sustain the welfare of their respective citizens.
First, there is no iota of truth in the fact that Russia or President Putin has an intention of defeating Ukraine as a means of incorporating it into greater Russia. However, the bone of contention has always been the neutrality of Ukraine to guarantee Russia’s security interest. There is a pedestrian argument that Ukraine is a democratic state and has the freedom to join any association of its choice. However, anyone with some primary knowledge of international relations and security studies, dating back to the Cuban Missile crisis of the 1960s would appreciate the fairness of Russia’s request, that Ukraine should not join NATO but remain neutral. The question being asked here is that: Would the USA agree to Russia installing some nuclear missiles in Mexico or Canada, two independent states bordering the US border? This is not the space to delve into the arguments and debates but to delineate the false premises upon which the US and its allies are churning distorted facts as well as false arguments in an attempt to deceive their citizens to support the wasteful war by increasing military budgets.
Second, Ukraine is a democratic state as being falsely portrayed by the US and its allies. Countless examples of human rights violations and abuses have been perpetrated by successive Ukrainian governments, including president Zelenksy, against Ukrainian citizens, especially the Russian citizens in the Donbas and Lugansk areas over many years. Currently, Zelensky, the puppet president of the US and its western states, has instituted a ban on free-speech to silence opposing Ukrainian voices against the war with Russia. The persistent attempt by Biden and his allied western states to portray Ukraine as a democratic state being invaded by Russia, is a mirage and cognitive dissonance depicting the fraying conditions of Biden.
Third, there are myriads of examples and case-studies which characterised the US as persistent meddler in the internal affairs of foreign states. John Bolton, former US ambassador to the UN and security adviser to President Trump, upon dismissal by him, openly confessed to orchestrated plans to invade Venezuela and other states they considered as antagonistic to US’ interests. Also, sight cannot be lost of the overthrown of Gaddafi in Libya and Saddam Hussein in Iraq, which had left those states in perennial conflicts and destabilisation. The list of US’ overthrows of foreign states is endless. With all his numerous failings and purported corrupt leadership activities, Putin hardly comes close to matching the US’ record of regime change and interferences in other foreign states. Still in Ukraine, the famous leaked tape of 7 July 2014 in which Assistant Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland and Ambassador Geofrey Pyatt to Ukraine, plotted the overthrown of a democratically elected Victor Yanukovych, for proposing to sign a permanent deal with Russia, which would have guaranteed the neutrality of Ukraine to prevent the current conflict, is a classical demonstration of Biden and NATO states’ dissonance on a pedestal.
Gravely, today, the same western states whose preoccupation has been to protect democratic institutions and peoples around the world against human rights abuses have been mute without flexing their political muscles to stop Israel’s carnage, genocide and wanton destructions of Palestinians and their properties on a scale never seen before in recent human history. In defiance of countless UN resolutions, International Court of Justice (ICJ) rulings, coupled with states’ warnings, the US and some of its allied states like the United Kingdom (UK) and Canada, have supported the Israelis’ carnage against Palestinians in the cities of Gaza and Rafah, by subjecting them to inhuman and undignified treatments, that shock human senses. Juxtaposing the failures by the US, UK and their allies to stop Israeli aggression against Palestinians in the cities of Gaza and Rafah, coupled with the massive military support offered to Ukraine in the war against Russia, demonstrate an entrenched dissonance of a failing President Biden whose double-standard in the Ukraine-Russia and Palestine-Israel conflicts, resemble hypocritical stance of the twenty-first.
Concluding Remarks
NATO’s dissonance, as reflected in the image of President Biden, has an infectious impact on majority of western states, sheepishly towing the US’ line of policy to escalate the Ukraine-Russia war; while hypocritically turning a blind-eye to the humanitarian sufferings, carnage, destructions of public and private properties which stifle Palestinians’ dignity and means of livelihood. Also, the glaring hypocrisy and the dissonance demonstrated by majority of NATO leaders have contributed to undermine the credibility of democratic governance and institutions devoted to promoting and protecting human rights and decency. The extensive human deaths, destructions of hospitals, public institutions, private houses, including access to sanitation, reflect the dominant view among majority of citizens in western states that NATO has outlived its usefulness.
