March 29, 2017
With Monday’s procedural
vote in the U.S. Senate to allow Montenegro into NATO, the Washington elite
proved once more that heightening tensions with Russia might not just be
inevitable, but actually desirable. With the exception of Rand Paul (R-KY) and
Mike Lee (R-UT), the entire 100-strong body of the Senate rallied behind the
motion that would see the tiny Adriatic state admitted into the Atlantic
alliance over the objections of many Montenegrins . The vote set off a 30-hour
countdown, during which Senators will debate before putting the issue to a
final vote.
If you needed more proof
that US foreign policy is misguided, just look to what happened to Rand Paul
after his earlier decision to block Montenegro’s accession. The Kentucky
senator was subjected to a barrage of insults from fellow Republican John McCain,
who flatly accused
Paul of “working for Vladimir Putin.” McCain warned Paul that objecting to the
tiny Balkan state becoming the 29th member of the alliance would play straight
into the hands of the Russian president. While certainly unkind, Paul’s
retort that the 80-year-old might be “past his prime” and perhaps “a little
bit unhinged” was not entirely wide of the mark.
While Montenegro’s accession
to NATO bafflingly enjoys popular support in the Senate chamber and among
NATO’s 28 member states, 25 of whom have already finalized
their approval of the country’s membership of the alliance, criticism of Paul’s
veto is as grossly misguided as any assertion that he is somehow in the pocket
of the Kremlin. Correctly arguing that the U.S. is already spread far too
thinly militarily in dozens of countries all over the world with little to show
for it, Paul questioned
the wisdom of expanding the monetary and military obligations of America at a
time when it is already drowning in debt. He had previously voted against the
matter in a vote last December.
McCain represents a
mercilessly hawkish wing of the Republican Party that would be quite happy to
risk war with Russia and harm to U.S. interests over such a strategically
irrelevant country. Paul, on the other hand, takes a more pragmatic position on
the country’s NATO ambitions, as should anyone in full possession of the facts.
To begin with, the Montenegrin people themselves display little interest in
their country joining NATO. Polls there consistently show that no more than 40%
of the public favor NATO membership, with support for accession dropping
considerably below that figure among older people. Many remain suspicious of
the alliance after it bombed Yugoslavia, of which Montenegro was part, in 1999.
Distrust for the military alliance is so strong that anti-NATO
demonstrations regularly take place across the country. To press ahead with
Montenegro’s NATO accession would fly directly in the face of the will of its
people.
Worse, Montenegro’s October
parliamentary election was marred with exaggerated charges that a Russian coup
was in the works. If it hadn’t been for some last minute intelligence from
Serbia and the country’s own agencies, so the story goes, Russian GRU spies
would have assassinated Djukanovic and would have installed a puppet
government. In fact, the pro-Western Podgorica government has successfully used
the specter of Russian influence in order to detain and unlawfully harass
opposition leaders. Just last week, Marko Milacic, a pro-neutrality campaigner,
was “pre-emptively
detained” after campaigning in favor of a referendum that would have
allowed Montenegrins to vote on whether they want indeed to join NATO.
Aside from the lack of
public support, Montenegro has very little to meaningfully contribute to the
alliance. Indeed, its accession would seriously undermine the democratic
principles on which the transatlantic community was ostensibly founded. The
country’s government is widely accepted to be riddled with corruption. Former
Prime Minister Milo Dukanovic was named Man of the Year in Organized
Crime by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) in
2015, and has been accused of cigarette smuggling on a grand scale in collusion
with notorious organized crime groups from Italy, among a litany of other
offences any mobster would be proud to have on their resume. Since standing
down from his role as Prime Minister last year, Djukanovic has managed to
cleverly maneuver
the domestic political sphere by intimidating opposition leaders, while
skillfully managing to avoid accusation of a “political crackdown” that would
have ignited wide-spread civil unrest.
Montenegro’s accession to
full NATO membership should also be viewed as no-brainer from a financial
perspective. The fact remains that Podgorica currently spends just 1.6%
of its GDP on defense and has a miniscule army. As the Senate Armed
Services Chairman, John McCain has been busy campaigning for a greater military
budget of $640
billion for 2018 to entangle U.S. forces in further conflicts abroad,
proving once more that the former Presidential candidate is stuck in a Cold War
mentality, as evidenced by his suggestion that Paul is some sort of Kremlin
plant.
Republicans and the White
House must look beyond this bluster and carefully consider the ramifications of
allowing Montenegro’s NATO accession. Accepting a country with a failing
economy and corrupt government into the alliance will do nothing to further U.S
interests either at home or abroad. On the contrary, allowing Montenegro to
join NATO would jeopardize both regional and U.S. security, and perpetuate the
mistakes of past administrations that have been too quick to bomb foreign countries
on a whim and play geopolitical games.
McCain’s tired brand of
rampant interventionism should be consigned to the dustbin of history, while
the rest of the Senate should take careful note of Paul’s important points. He
is one of a rare breed of lawmakers brave enough to criticize America’s
imperialism abroad.
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