Interview with Iraklis Tsavdaridis, Executive Secretary of WPC, on the NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain

Sunday, June 26, 2022

WPC Executive Secretary Iraklis Tsavdaridis gave an interview to the Turkish news portal, soL. The interview was about the NATO Summit to be held in Madrid, Spain. It was published in Turkish on the 25th of June, 2022. (https://haber.sol.org.tr/haber/soylesi-baris-ve-halklarin-dostlugu-ile-b...)

1) Another NATO Summit is approaching on 29-30 June. This is quite an important one because it is the first one after the start of the war in Ukraine. Of course, NATO's stance on this war will be the main topic. Another topic closely related with this war is expansion of NATO towards Scandinavia, namely Sweden and Finland. How do you think these topics will be evaluated?

NATO was always and is the armed wing of imperialism, it was never a defensive organism and its history is full of crimes, of wars, coups d’ Etat, invasions and occupation. NATO is expanding after 1991 steadily towards Eastern Europe and taking advantage of the war in Ukraine in order to further encircle militarily one of its main opponents, the Russian Federation. There is an overall and unanimous agreement in the ranks of NATO for its expansion and strengthening. Some countries may see the opportunity for negotiations or bargaining with NATO, without challenging the main stream strategy of it. NATO is determined to prolong the war in the Ukraine, regardless the fact who has started it. The Euro-Atlantic alliance, the hand-in-hand common strategy of NATO with the European Union will be ratified once more in Madrid. All the above are issues of great concern for the peoples in Europe and the peace loving forces.

2) The situation in Europe is not the only point on the agenda of the summit. According to NATO's website, China will also be discussed. What can be the outcome of the summit on this topic?

NATO is dealing with the agenda of powerful states, which are serving the interests of big monopolies and multinationals whose interests and goals are to conquer more markets, more raw materials, spheres of influence and especially these days the energy transport roads. We are witnessing fierce competition and contradictions between the USA and its allies on the one side and China with its allies on the other side. Likewise there are contradictions within each camp itself. China, as an emerging economic power is enhancing its presence in many continents and not hiding its desire to replace the USA as biggest economy on earth. We are opposed as WPC to the sanctions and interference against the PR China on certain pretexts, analyzing the situation in the world based on the interests of the peoples and their just causes and on the basis of International Law and the founding principles of the UN Charter.
In our view the peoples and their movements have to target imperialism as an international system of domination, to fight against the root causes for poverty, wars and exploitation. An equitable world of peace and friendship of the peoples can be established only when imperialism will be defeated.

3) The summit will also shape the strategic concept of the alliance for the coming term. What can be expected about this strategic concept?

NATO has announced since some years its agenda 2030, it is not hiding its «ambitions» to become the ’’World Sheriff’’. NATO has established partnerships in all corners of the world and is using the network of hundreds of foreign military bases in the world for its plans. The Middle East, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific, Eastern Europe and Africa are theatre of operations of the US and EU imperialists. NATO is preparing itself to be able to intervene within short time in any corner of the planet militarily. The military spending last year has crossed the 2 trillion USD worldwide when only 5% of this amount would be enough to face and abolish hunger and curable diseases in the world. All NATO member states’ governments are culprits and responsible for the aggressive and offensive NATO policies and strategy. The peoples of the world can not expect anything positive from NATO and its summit in Madrid. Therefore we call upon all anti-imperialist peace loving forces and people in the NATO states to fight for the disengagement of their countries from NATO and for the dissolution of it on global scale.

4) The World Peace Council has always been active about the NATO Summits in recent years. What will the Council do this time for the summit in Madrid?

The WPC has opposed NATO firmly from its founding days. For the last 12 years we have initiated a campaign YES to Peace-NO to NATO with a distinct and visible presence at the various anti-NATO protest demonstrations in many places. Our presence in Madrid this year and on the 26th June demonstration is aiming to denounce the NATO, US and EU, which in connection with the ongoing war in the Ukraine are creating huge dangers for a more generalized war of global dimensions. For us it is important to uncover as well the approach of certain forces in the peace movement which are silencing the complicity of the European Union and its militarization, which are not identifying imperialism and its mechanisms or which target only the USA in their calls. Therefore the WPC will rally on Sunday in Madrid behind its banners and flags the consequent anti-imperialist and peace loving forces, defying fatalism and complacency with the optimism that the peoples of the world are the only ’’super-power’’ and that imperialism is not invincible!