They say the devil is in the details, but if you listen to leading politicians and conservative journalists and analysts you would think the devil is in NATO. Despite the fact that NATO has radically changed its military structure and heavily demobilized since the Soviet collapse, Russia continues to demonize NATO.
We all remember the exaggerated phrases of then-President Vladimir Putin: “Comrade Wolf who knows who he is going to eat,” or, after the 2004 Beslan hostage tragedy, when he referred to the enemy “who wants to seize the richest parts” of Russia. Although these statements were veiled, it was clear from the context that they were aimed at NATO or the United States, both of which are often used interchangeably in Russia.
During U.S. President George W. Bush’s two terms, the inflammatory anti-NATO or anti-U.S. statements could have been dismissed as an overly emotional reaction to what was then a global phenomenon of anti-Bushism. But what is disturbing is that this negative rhetoric continues even after U.S. President Barack Obama has offered the world a new foreign policy paradigm based on the respect for diplomacy, international organizations and multipolarity that includes a clear recognition of Russia’s important role as a global power.
In a recent example, President Dmitry Medvedev said during a Sept. 20 interview with CNN, “Let’s not forget that NATO is a military bloc, and its missiles are pointed at Russia.”
What NATO missiles was he talking about? After the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF, between the United States and the Soviet Union was signed in 1987, all nuclear and conventional ground-based missiles with a range of 500 kilometers to 5,500 kilometers were destroyed — a range that clearly covers all of NATO’s European members.
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