...And to make you happy I'll address the article.
Yes the guardian is a respectable source of secondary aside-from-mainstream news. This article IS interesting and disturbing but with the application of a bit of common sense you have to recognize that this proposition will never make it through.
If the article is correct on all the details something like this is NOT going to pass in NATO. This will not take place as a result of one of this proposition's chief criticisms- the neccesity for NATO consensus. Yes the proposition calls for "A shift from consensus decision-taking in Nato bodies to majority voting, meaning faster action through an end to national vetoes" Conveniantly this is exactly what will stop it. There IS going to be a NATO member party which disagrees with this (among other thigns in the proposition) and will vote against it if not veto it.
Secondly there are enough member countries of NATO with liberal governments to vote this down. Take Germany's government for example. With this in mind lo and behold!- "The time has come for Germany to decide if it wants to be a reliable partner." By insisting on "special rules" for its forces in Afghanistan, the Merkel government in Berlin was contributing to "the dissolution of Nato". -As quoted from one of the authers of this proposed resolution. Its far beyond military in scope. That was a political shot from the hip.
Lastly while were on politics, this excerpt in particular captured me- "The five commanders argue that the west's values and way of life are under threat, but the west is struggling to summon the will to defend them. The key threats are:
· Political fanaticism and religious fundamentalism."
What does that shout to you? If we've boarded the same train of thought that just screams right wing military fear politics. There is enough common sense within NATO as an organization and the UN to realize that this popularist rhetoric shouldn't be taken seriously. Once you step outside the circles of military and US discourse you realize that WOW! the world isn't actually out to get us!
This won't pass. Don't generalize five radical NATO generals as the entire organization as a whole. Just because its a proposition doesn't mean its policy.
