Russia 'Predestined' to Remain NATO Scapegoat to Justify Defense Bills - German Lawmakers

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st February, 2021) The NATO chief's rhetoric on "Russian aggression" is not going to vanish anywhere, as the alliance needs to justify its existence and ever-rising spending bills, German lawmakers told Sputnik.

Last week, NATO held its first military committee in chiefs of defense in 2021. Jens Stoltenberg "urged Allies to continue to increase defence spending, invest in modern capabilities and to ensure our military remained ready to deal with challenges such as Russia's aggressive actions, terrorism and the risks posed by the rise of China," the press release read.

According to the spokesman for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the Bundestag committee on foreign affairs, this message proves that "the pressure from the US on the other member states to fulfill their obligations will remain."

"It is nothing invented by the Trump-administration, that the military spendings of all NATO members should be increased to 2 percent of their GDP. All members agreed to it, but just few are fulfilling this obligation and the US is carrying the biggest part of the NATO budget," Petr Bystron told Sputnik.

Under Donald Trump, the US at the same time "didn't start a single war," the lawmaker continued, noting that "unfortunately all indicators are predicting that's going to change under Joe Biden presidency."

So, even despite the US-Russian agreement to extend the New START treaty in the very first call between the two leaders, "it is to be feared that the relationship will develop dangerously," the lawmaker said, citing Biden's stance on Ukraine.

"I am very concerned here and do not see the NATO representatives as being the big peace maker," he added.

Waldemar Herdt, an AfD member of the German parliament's committee on foreign affairs, expects that the US-NATO approach will be even "more intensive" under Biden.

"NATO will be even more politicized and used by a number of politicians as an implementation vehicle. Russia's aggression is just a pretext to maintain, expand and finance the alliance. It requires the narrative of an aggressor and an external enemy. Russia is predestined for this role," Herdt told Sputnik.

Should this policy remain unchanged and the existing narrative deepen, the lawmaker went on, there is no room for "any hopeful development tendencies in the future."

Andrej Hunko, spokesman for Die Linke party in the Bundestag Committee on the affairs of the European Union, is also skeptical about any shifts on Russia.

"NATO will remain a military alliance with ever-increasing costs that is not suitable for a policy of détente that is very necessary given the rising tensions at the global level," Hunko told Sputnik.

While admitting that "the sharp rhetoric of the NATO leadership is not new," he noted that Stoltenberg's latest statements are not conducive to dialogue.

"Of course, Russia also has very dangerous weapons and has intervened militarily. But the best solution, in my opinion, is to start a policy based on dialogue and cooperation, not confrontation. This dialogue cannot be started with words like those of Stoltenberg," the lawmaker stated.

As for China, which followed Russia on the list of NATO's challenges, Hunko noted that it reflects the West's fear of losing its geopolitical hegemony, with this trend having been noticeable in the Obama administration's "Pivot to Asia" policy and further "exacerbated" under Trump.