'End the Imperialist Expansionism': US Progressives Demand NATO Be Disbanded
© AFP 2023 / WIN MCNAMEERep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks during an event outside Union Station June 16, 2021 in Washington, DC. Ocasio-Cortez, joined by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-NY) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), called for increased federal funding for high speed-rail in the infrastructure package being discussed on Capitol Hill.
© AFP 2023 / WIN MCNAMEE
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Russia has repeatedly said that NATO failed to take into account Moscow’s security concerns related to the concentration of its military capacity near Russian borders, and refused to guarantee further expansion eastwards.
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have slammed the United States’ “imperialist expansionism” and failure to respond to Russia’s security demands and called for the dissolution of NATO's Western alliance, according to an official statement.
While accusing Russia of “aggression”, DSA said that the US has “set the stage for this conflict”.
“DSA reaffirms our call for the US to withdraw from NATO and to end the imperialist expansionism that set the stage for this conflict,” the statement says. “We call on antiwar activists in the US and across the world to oppose violent escalations, demand a lasting diplomatic solution, and stress the crucial need to accept any and all refugees resulting from this crisis.”
At the end of 2021, Russia proposed drafts of a treaty with the US and NATO on security guarantees, including a stop to the alliance’s eastward expansion and establishment of military bases in post-Soviet countries. The proposals also contained the non-deployment of NATO strike weapons near Russian borders and the withdrawal of alliance forces in Eastern Europe to the positions of 1997.
After a series of heavy strikes by the Ukrainian military against the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, President Putin said that the situation “require decisive and immediate action” as the republics of the Donbass “have asked for help”.
According to the Russian leader, all responsibility for the bloodshed lies on the Ukrainian authorities. He called on the Ukrainian military not to follow their “criminal” orders and lay down their arms.
Later, the Russian Defence Ministry stressed that the Russian Armed Forces aren't launching any strikes on Ukrainian cities, and are targeting only military infrastructure. Moscow stressed that it is not interested in Ukrainian territory and would withdraw its forces after the “demilitarisation” and “denazification” of Kiev, which refused to comply with the Minsk agreements and has waged war in the Donbass region, is concluded.