Another Century of War? by Gabriel Kolko

Author:Gabriel Kolko
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The New Press
Published: 2011-06-02T16:00:00+00:00

Coalitions and Strategy: Real and Imagined

The Kosovo war marked the end of NATO as one of the principal means of directly applying U.S. military power in Europe, for it was the first time that NATO had been called upon to function in an actual combat situation. Its inability to act in a timely fashion was partially an inevitable consequence of expanding its membership and extending its potential commitments until they became less and less binding, but it was largely due to the Pentagon’s realization that NATO’s practical encumbrances and time-consuming need to consult its members on routine military decisions made it more a liability than an asset. The war in Afghanistan is a European affair only insofar as a hitherto obscure clause in NATO’s treaty makes an attack on one state an attack on all of them, but this far-fetched contingency was written with a totally different scenario in mind—the USSR was then its sole concern—and when the organization’s membership was much smaller.

But long before September 11, the United States was determined to avoid a repetition of the serious inhibitions that arose with the Kosovo war. The only question was one of timing and how the United States would escape its clear obligations while maintaining its hegemony over its other members. It wished to preserve NATO for essentially the same reasons it had created it: to restrain Europe’s inclinations to create an independent military organization. If Russia reaches even a partial accord with NATO, which is being debated (with Washington often shifting its position and frustrating its nominal allies), then its original function will come to an end and it will exist in name alone. It will then be invoked solely when it suits America’s purposes.

Even before the wars in the former Yugoslavia, the Pentagon was also moving away from the U.S. preoccupation with Europe, a shift that the demise of communism warranted, and focusing its plans far more on the Persian Gulf and especially on East Asia and China. The Bush administration came to office resolved to do less in the Balkans, essentially leaving this responsibility to the United States’ European allies. But it also embarked on a whole string of unilateral gestures, ranging from renouncing the Kyoto agreement to indicating that the 1972 arms control treaty with Russia was soon to become a dead letter. It was openly divided on such issues as relations with China and even Russia, whether to invade Iraq, and how far and fast to go with the ABM system. These internal differences have only intensified since then. America’s reputation for reliability and stability, and its willingness to reshape its treaties and foreign policies as it thought expedient, were immediately called into question.

The events of September 11 compelled the United States to cease temporarily its march toward unilaterism, but it continued trying to attain its objectives in fighting terrorism without sacrificing its goal of greater freedom in its foreign and military policies. Essentially, it embarked on a public relations campaign. But this has strengthened

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