Editing North Atlantic Treaty Organization

{{Infobox settlement|image_map=NATO_Members.svg|conventional_long_name=North Atlantic Treaty Organization|official_languages=English<br>French|native_name=Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord|capital_type=Headquarters|capital=Brussels, [[Belgium]]|established_event1=Formation|established_date1=4 April 1949|image_flag=Flag of NATO.png|image_coat=NATO logo.svg|coa_size=150}}

The '''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''', more often called '''NATO''', is an [[Anti-communism|anticommunist]] international military treaty created in the [[imperial core]] following the [[Second World War]].<ref>{{News citation|author=[[Ben Norton]]|newspaper=[[Multipolarista]]|title=NATO is a tool of US imperialism that has backed Nazis for decades|date=2022-06-14|url=https://youtu.be/Maqkl4fEQfs}}</ref> It includes all of the world's major [[Imperialism|imperialist]] powers except [[Commonwealth of Australia|Australia]] and [[Japan]].<ref name=":3">{{Web citation|author=John Catalinotto|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=A short history of NATO|date=2018-07-16|url=https://www.workers.org/2018/07/38222/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220626141139/https://www.workers.org/2018/07/38222/|archive-date=2022-06-26|retrieved=2022-12-23}}</ref>

Its original aim was to defend [[Dictatorship of the bourgeoisie|bourgeois republics]] against a possible [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet]] liberation of [[Europe]]. When this did not occur, NATO moved to funding anticommunist (more often [[Fascism|fascist]]) acts in Europe and abroad. In 1955, the Soviet Union formed the [[Warsaw Pact]] to protect itself and its allies from NATO.<ref name=":2">{{Web citation|author=Sara Flounders|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=NATO’s global history of reaction|date=2022-04-04|url=https://www.workers.org/2022/04/63075/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220822120013/https://www.workers.org/2022/04/63075/|archive-date=2022-08-22|retrieved=2022-09-04}}</ref>

NATO has started wars in [[Afghanistan]], [[Iraq]], [[Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1977–2011)|Libya]], and [[Syrian Arab Republic|Syria]], causing about a million deaths and creating 38 million refugees.<ref name=":1" /> Its commanders are always appointed by the [[President of the United States|U.S. president]], and it is an arm of [[United States imperialism|U.S. imperialism]].<ref name=":3" /> In the event of a war, the U.S. commander has the power to suspend civilian laws and enact a dictatorship over most of Europe.<ref>{{Citation|author=Stephen Gowans|year=2018|title=Patriots, Traitors and Empires: The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom|chapter=Imperialism|page=49|pdf=https://ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaced4iiga4ngtxusr2civjxewbili5jne2sbpefbx2s3im2kphattzc?filename=Stephen%20Gowans%20-%20Patriots%2C%20Traitors%20and%20Empires_%20The%20Story%20of%20Korea%E2%80%99s%20Struggle%20for%20Freedom-Baraka%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=Montreal|publisher=Baraka Books|isbn=9781771861427|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=8435F6FF91279531705764823FDC2A7F}}</ref>

== Members ==
[[File:NATO expansion.png|thumb|NATO expansion after the fall of the Warsaw Pact]]
The 12 founding members of NATO were [[Belgium]], [[Canada]], [[Kingdom of Denmark|Denmark]], [[France]], [[Iceland]], [[Italy]], [[Luxembourg]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Kingdom of Norway|Norway]], [[Portugal]], the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[United States]].<ref name=":0">https://archive.vn/wip/ogQgV</ref> Since that time, other countries have joined the alliance: [[Greece]] and [[Turkey]] (1952), [[Germany]] (1955), [[Spain]] (1982), the [[Czech Republic]], [[Hungary]] and [[Poland]] (1999), [[Bulgaria]], [[Estonia]], [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], [[Romania]], [[Slovakia]] and [[Slovenia]] (2004), [[Albania]] and [[Croatia]] (2009), [[Montenegro]] (2017),  [[Republic of North Macedonia|North Macedonia]] (2020) and [[Finland]] (2023).<ref name=":0" />

In 1990, U.S. Secretary of State [[James Baker]] claimed NATO would not expand into [[Eastern Europe]],<ref>{{Citation|author=[[James Baker]], [[Mikhail Gorbachev|Mikhail Gorbachyov]]|year=1990|title=Memorandum of conversation between Mikhail Gorbachev and James Baker in Moscow|page=6|title-url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/16116-document-05-memorandum-conversation-between|publisher=National Security Archive|pdf=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/4325679/Document-05-Memorandum-of-conversation-between.pdf|quote=Baker: We understand the need for assurances to the countries in the East. If we maintain a presence in Germany that is part of NATO, there would be no extension of NATO's jurisdiction for forces of NATO one inch to the east.}}</ref> although it did anyway,<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=National Security Archive|title=NATO Expansion: What Gorbachev Heard|url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2017-12-12/nato-expansion-what-gorbachev-heard-western-leaders-early}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|author=[[Eugene Puryear]]|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=Should we really blame NATO for the Ukraine war?|date=2022-06-05|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/should-we-really-blame-nato-for-the-ukraine-war/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221011074105/https://www.liberationnews.org/should-we-really-blame-nato-for-the-ukraine-war/|archive-date=2022-10-11|retrieved=2022-10-22}}</ref> and 14 countries in Central and Eastern Europe joined NATO after the [[overthrow of the Soviet Union]].<ref name=":1">{{News citation|author=[[Chris Hedges]]|newspaper=[[MintPress News]]|title=Chris Hedges: NATO—The Most Dangerous Military Alliance on the Planet|date=2022-07-12|url=https://www.mintpressnews.com/chris-hedges-nato-most-dangerous-military-alliance/281304/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220721133324/https://www.mintpressnews.com/chris-hedges-nato-most-dangerous-military-alliance/281304/|archive-date=2022-07-21|retrieved=2022-07-26}}</ref>

[[Kingdom of Sweden|Sweden]] will likely join NATO soon. Turkish president [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]] gave permission for them to join NATO after they expanded domestic terror laws and lifted restrictions on selling weapons to Turkey.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:Romanian anti NATO poster.jpeg|thumb|235x235px|[[Socialist Republic of Romania (1947–1989)|Romanian]] anti-NATO poster saying "[[Neo-fascism|New label]] on [[Fascism|old merchandise]]"]]

== Anticommunist projects ==
NATO took over anti-Soviet subversive activities from their predecessors when they started operating [[German Reich (1933–1945)|Nazi]] general [[Richard Gehlen]]'s network of spies in the Soviet Union.

NATO is perhaps best known among European communists for [[Operation Gladio]], which is a name given to a series of operations that consisted of funding fascist groups in Europe to assassinate and destabilize communists in the 20th century. In 2022, a Spanish lawmaker [[Gerado Pisarello]] criticized NATO for promoting a [[New Cold War]] on [[People's Republic of China|China]].<ref>{{News citation|author=[[Ben Norton]]|newspaper=[[Multipolarista]]|title=Spanish lawmaker: NATO subordinates Europe to US, pushes war on China, enriches weapons companies|date=2022-07-05|url=https://youtu.be/F4C6MKbhuZQ}}</ref>

NATO supported a right-wing military coup in Greece in 1967. It sent warships to Portugal in 1975 to repress the [[Proletariat|working class]] after the fall of the fascist [[Estado Novo]] regime.<ref name=":3" />

== Imperialist acts ==
The Coalition fighting in Afghanistan, in a [[Afghanistan War|conflict]] that started in 1979 when the Afghan government asked the USSR to help fight against the [[Mujahideen]], was sent on the request of NATO.

NATO invaded and destroyed Iraq in 1991.<ref name=":2" />

NATO bombed [[Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia]] and [[Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992–2006)|Serbia]] during the [[Yugoslav Wars]].<ref name=":1" /> This bombing violated NATO's own charter because Yugoslavia never attacked any NATO member.<ref name=":02">{{Citation|author=[[Michael Parenti]]|year=2000|title=To Kill a Nation|chapter=NATO's War Crimes|page=115–116|pdf=https://leftychan.net/edu/src/1614706295182-3.pdf|publisher=Verso}}</ref>

When the USA was attacked on [[9/11|September 11, 2001]] and followed with a declaration of [[Iraq War|war against Iraq]] for imperialist interests, NATO—by their own admission—put their principle of collective defence to practice: if one member country is attacked, then all must join the war in defense. It is important to note that the government of Iraq never claimed responsibility or was ever tied to the terrorist attacks. Notably, president Bush admitted in 2006 that Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq in 2001, was not responsible for the attack<ref>{{News citation|title=Bush: Saddam was not responsible for 9/11|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/sep/12/september11.usa2|author=Suzanne Goldenberg|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=2006-09-12}}</ref>.

NATO invaded the [[Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1977–2011)|Libyan Arab Jamahiriya]] in 2011, causing a complete collapse of the country.<ref name=":1" />

NATO backed Turkey's occupation of parts of [[Syrian Arab Republic|Syria]] and Iraq. Turkey has the second largest military of any NATO member.<ref name=":1" />

In June 2022, NATO announced it would increase its standing army in Europe from 40,000 to 300,000 troops, including over 3,000 troops in the [[Baltics|Baltic]] states on the border with [[Russian Federation|Russia]].<ref>{{News citation|author=Andre Damon|newspaper=[[World Socialist Web Site]]|title=NATO announces plan for massive European land army|date=2022-06-27|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/06/28/sosw-j28.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630011006/https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/06/28/sosw-j28.html|archive-date=2022-06-30|retrieved=2022-06-30}}</ref> NATO also added [[People's Republic of China|China]] to its list of enemies and labeled it a "systemic challenge."<ref>{{News citation|author=Sameena Rahman|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=NATO officially adds China to its list of enemies|date=2022-06-30|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/nato-officially-adds-china-to-its-list-of-enemies/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630223716/https://www.liberationnews.org/nato-officially-adds-china-to-its-list-of-enemies/|archive-date=2022-06-30|retrieved=2022-07-02}}</ref>

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Intergovernmental organizations]]
[[Category:Imperialist organizations]]