ARGUEABLY NATO NOW EXISTS MAINLY TO SOCIALIZE THE COSTS OF U.S. WARS (1ST VIDEO). THE NEWLY MILITARIZED U.S. POLICE FORCES EXIST PRIMARILY TO TERRORIZE FOLKS BY VIOLATING THEIR 1ST AND 4TH AMENDMENT RIGHTS IN THE COURSE OF ARRESTING THEM ON SUSPICION OF THEIR BEING "TERRORISTS" (2ND VIDEO).

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TUESDAY, MAY22, 2012                                                               Permalink

Should NATO Exist? Phyllis Bennis vs. Ex-CIAer Stan Sloan on Alliance’s Purpose, Afghan War’s Future

As NATO concludes its largest-ever summit in Chicago, we host a debate on whether the trans-Atlantic military alliance should exist at all and its new agreement to hand over control to Afghan forces next year. "When you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When you’re a military alliance, every problem looks like it requires a military solution," argues Phyllis Bennis, an author and fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. "NATO is a giant, big hammer. The problem is, Afghanistan is not a nail, Libya is not a nail. These are political problems that need to be dealt with politically. And by empowering ... a military alliance, NATO is really serving to undermine the goal of the United Nations Charter, which speaks of the importance of regional organizations, in political terms, for nonviolent resolution of disputes, not to put such a primacy and privilege on military regional institutions that really reflect the most powerful parts of the world." Speaking in support of NATO, Stan Sloan, a 30-year security analyst at the CIA and former senior specialist at the Congressional Research Service, counters: "I believe that having allies in this alliance for the United States serves our interests, serves our national interests. ... [NATO] has always been a political alliance. ... I think as long as the member states regard cooperation among them as valuable and even necessary if they have to use military force, they will continue to judge that we need the alliance." [original includes rush transcript] 

Guests:

Phyllis Bennis, fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. She’s written several books, including Ending the US War in Afghanistan: A Primer and Challenging Empire: How People, Governments, and the UN Defy US Power.

Stan Sloan, European security expert at the CIA from the late 1960s until 1999. He was also a senior specialist at the Congressional Research Service. Since retiring from government service, he has taught at Middlebury College in Vermont. His most recent book is Permanent Alliance? NATO and the Transatlantic Bargain from Truman to Obama.

Attorney: "NATO 3" Activists Detained on Terror Charges in Chicago Are Victims of Police Entrapment

Following a weekend that saw nearly 100 arrests of protesters at the NATO summit in Chicago, we speak with National Lawyers Guild attorney Sarah Gelsomino, who represents one of the five activists charged with terror-related crimes. Two are accused of attempted possession of explosives or incendiary devices, and three more are accused of conspiracy to commit terrorism, material support for terrorism and possession of explosives. Gelsomino says the so-called "NATO Three" were set up by government informants who planted the explosives. "Our clients who are facing the most serious charges of terrorism are actually in solitary confinement right now, we just learned," Gelsomino says. "A very top priority this week is to get them out of that extremely punitive and extremely dangerous condition that they’re in right now." [original includes rush transcript] 

Guest: 

Sarah Gelsomino, attorney with the People’s Law Office and the National Lawyers Guild. She is representing one of the protesters facing terrorism charges from the NATO summit.