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7 months ago
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TYRANTS of the world are ramping up threats against the West in a “much more violent world”, the Nato chief has warned.
Jens Stoltenberg said that autocratic regimes like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are increasingly working together to form “Axis of evil” against Western democracies.
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Ian WhittakerThe leader argued that the “authoritarian” alliance is giving each other practical support and getting “more and more aligned”.
He explained how these nations are working in cahoots to support each other in a bid to undermine the Western democracies.
While speaking to Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Stoltenberg told The BBC: “China is propping up the Russian war economy, delivering key parts to the defence industry, and in return, Moscow is mortgaging its future to Beijing.”
He added that Russia has been trading technology with Iran and China in exchange for war equipment to fuel Putin’s illegal war against Ukraine.
According to the chief, Nato had to work with non-member countries like Japan and South Korea to “stand up against this stronger alliance of authoritarian powers”.
Experts previously explained despots in China, Iran and North Korea could follow in Vlad’s footsteps to tighten their iron-fist grips on power and undermine democracy in the West.
Security and politics expert Professor Anthony Glees warned that given their shared hatred for the West, they would do anything to undermine the core idea of democracy.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, he said: “The enemies of the West would be looking and learning from Putin’s playbook and taking specific lessons.
“They may work in cahoots with each other as a coalition of evil. The idea of democracy to these people is deeply offensive. They would do everything they could to undermine it.
“They read our newspapers and watch our television to work out how they can shape their propaganda to undermine the core belief of democracy.
“They want to make liberal democracy in the West look fake.”
Fighting back
As Nato foreign secretaries gathered in Brussels to mark the 75th anniversary of the signing of the treaty two days ago, Stoltenberg reiterated that Europe is on the brink of a potential war.
He said: “As we celebrate Nato achievements, we do not rest upon them. Europe now faces war on a scale we thought was resigned to history.”
Since Putin invaded Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of people have died, millions more have fled their homes and towns and cities have been levelled as Europe suffers the bloodiest fighting since Nato was founded.
And the threat of Putin winning over Ukraine and attacking the West has never been more real.
Nato countries are facing the huge challenge of making sure Ukraine – which is bidding to join – doesn’t lose its fight to push back Putin’s forces.
But Stoltenberg has now proposed a $108-billion five-year fund in a bid to ensure long-term support for Kyiv while pushing to get Nato more directly involved in coordinating deliveries.
He said: “Even if we believe and hope that the war will end in the near future, we need to support Ukraine for many years, to build their defences to deter future aggression.”
Nato stands stronger with a GDP 20 times greater than Russia’s and 3.2million military personnel – compared to Russia’s 1.2million.
In total, the alliance also has four times as many tanks, three times as many fighter aircrafts and 16 aircraft carriers compared to Putin’s one.
And Nato members have thrown their weight behind Kyiv by sending weapons worth tens of billions of dollars.
Putin said he declared war on Ukraine – in part – because Nato was expanding closer to Russia’s borders.
But Minuto-Rizzo – Nato’s Deputy Secretary General from 2001 to 2007 – said the Russian tyrant has failed in his goal to weaken the alliance.
Instead, the war has worked to bolster Nato’s strength, the 83-year-old said.
He told The Sun: “The Russian aggression in Ukraine was intended to fight back [against] Nato, in a way.
“But it was the opposite… because you see that Finland and Sweden – who had no intention to join in Nato before – became Nato members.
“The war has reinforced Nato. It is a paradox… but this is what has happened.”
Putin’s threats
Putin recently said a Russia-Nato conflict would be just one step from World War Three.
And on Thursday, the Kremlin said Russia and Nato are now in “direct confrontation”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “In fact, relations have now slipped to the level of direct confrontation.”
Nato was “already involved in the conflict surrounding Ukraine [and] continues to move towards our borders and expand its military infrastructure towards our borders”, he said.
Putin has also ramped up his nuclear threats against Nato as he warned any F-16 jets supplied by the West will be blown out of the sky.
The dictator vowed attacks on Nato airfields if Ukraine used them to launch the game-changing supersonic fighters against Russia.
F-16s are one of the prized Western weapons that Ukraine has been trying to seek for a long time.
Last year, the US gave the go-ahead for allies to send Ukraine the long-awaited F-16 warplanes to fight Russia in the skies.
Nato allies like Belgium, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands have all pledged to donate F-16s to Ukraine.
But Putin has warned that F-16s are “carriers of nuclear weapons” – and Russian forces would completely destroy them just like any other military equipment.
The unhinged dictator said: “If they put in F-16s – they are talking about it, they are training [Ukrainian] pilots, this will not change the situation on the battlefield.
“The F-16s are also carriers of nuclear weapons.
“And we will destroy their aircraft in the same way that we destroy their tanks, armoured vehicles and other equipment, including multiple rocket launchers.”
Putin even went on to say that he would target and attack any third country that launches these supersonic jets against Russia.
“Of course, if they are used from third-country airfields, they become a legitimate target for us, wherever they are,” he said.
“We will also have to take this into account when organising combat operations.”
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