Why Has the NATO System Become Useless?

The president has stated that in every area that matters, Russia will always be one step ahead. How is the West reacting to the demonstration of Russia’s latest weapons, and did they understand Putin’s main message?

I would have liked to see the faces of the leaders of NATO, the Pentagon and the Western nations when they heard what your president said. I should note that he spoke extremely sincerely, not ostentatiously, but with genuine respect and pride for his people and his country.

This performance demonstrated that NATO’s entire defense system is absolutely useless. A united Europe is defenseless. The conversation with Europe can now proceed according to the following stages: first, removing all sanctions and eliminating all NATO bases, and second, dissolving the alliance, which is already useless from a military point of view. Only after that can the conversation about normalizing relations between Russia and the EU begin. Before the announcement of this statement, the U.S. believed that by 2020 at the latest it would achieve total military superiority over Russia. All of a sudden, the U.S. has found itself over a barrel.* In the field of strategic weapons, Russia has advanced two or three generations ahead. As a result, the U.S. will have to make some colossal financial investments to keep that gap from growing. It will need hundreds of billions of dollars to improve its facilities. Speaking of which, in this sense, the arms race never stopped, and Moscow isn’t provoking anything. The Russian president only demonstrated that his country has sufficient military might. It is very important to note that there was no aggressiveness in his presentation; he did not threaten a single country. On the contrary, Putin made an open offer: Now we’re stronger than you, but we’re ready to work together with you. We are open.

I would also highlight another moment in the statement — a non-military moment. And it’s much scarier for the U.S. It turns out that after the chaos of the 1990s (which was comparable to war), and against a backdrop of constantly increasing international pressure and sanctions, Russia has recovered fully and found the means to solve all the problems that were thrown its way. Russia has not only made up for over 20 years of lost time but has also stepped forward onto a new, more reliable foundation, on which it will continue to develop further. This is yet another indication of the uselessness of sanctions. They have no impact on Russia’s policies, nor on its development, nor (and this is what the West fears most) on its weapons.

And most importantly – and this is something Putin stressed – it is impossible to build, design and develop all of these weapons with weak science, technology, and education. I’d like to recall the words attributed to Bismark after Prussia’s defeat by France: The war was won not by our generals, but by our teachers. It looks like it is precisely our teachers who are providing Russia with its future.

The author, Yaakov Kedmi, is an Israeli military expert and former head of Nativ special services.**

Opinions expressed by the author may not reflect the positions of the editor.

**Translator’s note: Nativ, or the Israeli Liaison Bureau, is an Israeli governmental organization that supported the immigration of Soviet Jews to Israel during the Cold War.

*Editor’s note: The phrase “over a barrel” is an idiom that means to put someone in a difficult situation.

**Translator’s note: Nativ, or the Israeli Liaison Bureau, is an Israeli governmental organization that supported the immigration of Soviet Jews to Israel during the Cold War.