Sejumlah pengendara berusaha melintasi banjir di jalan Ciledug raya, Jakarta, senin (28/11). Foto: Aditia Noviansyah/kumparan
BPBD (Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah) DKI Jakarta mencatat sedikitnya ada 7 wilayah Rukun Tetangga (RT) di Jakarta yang masih terendam banjir hingga hari Selasa pagi, 29/11/2022, pukul 06.00 WIB.
Jakarta Selatan terdapat 17 RT yakni di Kelurahan Cilandak Timur sebanyak dua RT dengan ketinggian air hingga 1,55 meter akibat luapan Kali Krukut.
Banjir sendiri disebabkan karena hujan dengan intensitas sedang hingga lebat yang melanda sebagian besar wilayah DKI Jakarta pada hari Senin petang, 28/11/2022.
Berikut data wilayah terdampak yang masih tergenang. Di wilayah Jakarta Selatan terdapat dua RT yang terdiri dari:
Kelurahan Petukangan Selatan
Jumlah: 1 RT
Ketinggian: 60 Cm
Penyebab: Luapan Kali
Pesanggrahan dan Kali Uangan
Kelurahan Cilandak Barat
Jumlah: 1 RT
Ketinggian: 40 Cm
Penyebab: Curah hujan tinggi dan Luapan Kali Krukut
Wilayah Jakarta Timur terdapat 5 RT yang terdiri dari:
Kelurahan Cawang
Jumlah: 5 RT
Ketinggian: 50 sampai 100 Cm
Penyebab: Luapan Kali Ciliwung
Banjir paling parah terjadi di Kelurahan Cilandak Timur. Ketinggian air berkisar antara 115 sampai 155 sentimeter akibat luapan Kali Krukut.
"Total ada 2 RT yang terdampak," kata Kepala Pelaksana Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah (BPBD) DKI Jakarta Isnawa Adji.
Banjir parah akibat luapan Kali Krukut juga terjadi di wilayah Pesanggrahan. Ada 13 RT terendam di wilayah tersebut. Ketinggiannya berkisar antara 40 sampai 60 sentimeter.
Akibat hujan lebat, menyebabkan kenaikan status siaga Pos Sunter Hulu menjadi Siaga 2 (Siaga), Pos Krukut Hulu menjadi Siaga 3 (Waspada) dan Pintu Air Manggarai menjadi Siaga 3 (Waspada), dan membuat airnya meluap hingga ke permukiman warga serta jalan-jalan di beberapa titik di wilayah DKI Jakarta.
Banjir paling parah terjadi di Kelurahan Cilandak Timur. Ketinggian air berkisar antara 115 sampai 155 sentimeter akibat luapan Kali Krukut.
"Total ada 2 RT yang terdampak," kata Kepala Pelaksana Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah (BPBD) DKI Jakarta Isnawa Adji.
"Di Kelurahan Bintaro ketinggian air mencapai 40 cm. Penyebabnya luapan Kali PHB Rengas Bintaro," ungkapnya.
Kemudian ada 1 RT di Kelurahan Bangka yang juga terdampak banjir. Banjir setinggi 40 sentimeter tersebut akibat luapan Kali Lenggong.
Petugas BPBD DKI Jakarta mengevakuasi satu warga di Pesanggrahan, Jakarta Selatan, yang tewas tersengat aliran listrik saat banjir Jakarta akibat curah hujan tinggi.
"Korban tutup usia akibat tersengat listrik karena berusaha mencabut colokan listrik yang sedang terendam air," kata Kepala Pelaksana BPBD DKI Isnawa Adji di Jakarta, Senin, 28 November 2022.
Korban tersebut diketahui bernama Lina Maulida berusia 35 tahun di Kelurahan Bintaro, Kecamatan Pesanggrahan, Jakarta Selatan.
Korban kemudian dievakuasi oleh petugas BPBD dibantu lurah dan petugas RT/RW.
Sementara itu, hingga pukul 21.00 WIB, sebanyak 19 Rukun Tetangga (RT) terdampak banjir di Jakarta.
Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological defense troops of the Russian Armed Forces, said that Russia is concerned about US-controlled tests of infectious agents on military personnel and mental patients in Ukraine.
Russia has not received an exhaustive response from the United States and Ukraine regarding US biological and military activities on Ukrainian territory under the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), Russia's permanent representative to the Geneva-based UN headquarters, Gennady Gatilov, said.
"We still have not received a proper and meaningful response to the documents and evidence presented, which shed light on the true nature of interaction between the Pentagon and its contractors and the Ukrainian side in the field of military and biological activities," he said.
The diplomat added that Russia's complaint was ignored and its proposal for an international investigation under the auspices of the UNSC under Article VI of the BWC was blocked by the United States.
Earlier, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological defense troops of the Russian Armed Forces, said that a network of more than 30 biological laboratories had been formed on the territory of Ukraine, which worked in the interests of the Pentagon
According to him, everything for the continuation of the US military-biological program was removed from Ukraine after the start of the Russian special military operation.
Earlier this month, Kirillov recalled that former US President Donald Trump's National Security Advisor John Bolton had participated in formulating the US drive for global dominance in bioweapons research. He said that Bolton led the US delegation to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention's Fifth Review Conference in November-December 2001.
Later, the US blocked the operation of the UN body's verification mechanism, as well as proposed measures to check bioweapons storage sites, citing threats such verification measures would pose to US "national interests." Bolton also characterized the BWC's verification protocol as "dead," and promised that it's "not going to be resurrected."
Igor Kirillov accompanied his presentation with a fresh trove of documents, including papers related to US efforts to build up the country's military-biological potential.
Norwegian Ambassador to Moscow Robert Kvile was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday over the detention and trials of Russian citizens on charges of allegedly illegal use of unmanned aerial vehicles.
"In connection with the detentions and trials in recent months against Russian citizens on charges of allegedly illegal use of drones, Ambassador Robert Kvile of the Kingdom of Norway was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on November 28. He was told that such practices were inadmissible," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a release.
"It was noted that the sentences against Russians are politically motivated and have nothing to do with the principles of fair and unbiased justice," the ministry added.
Moscow also urged Oslo to stop persecuting Russians on ethnic grounds. "We urged the Norwegian authorities to abandon such Russophobic actions and persecution of Russian nationals on the grounds of their ethnicity," the Foreign Ministry stressed.
Arrests of Russian nationals
Last week, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) reported that the district court of Hordaland in Norway had sentenced a 34-year-old Russian national to 90 days in prison after being detained for taking unauthorized pictures with the use of a drone.
Also in November, the cases of three other Russian citizens detained for filming with the use of drones are to be tried by the Vadso district court and in Tromso. The sanctions law forbidding Russian companies and citizens from flying drones over Norwegian territory was passed against the background of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.
On November 11, the Norwegian prosecutor's office brought charges against Russian businessperson Andrey Yakunin. According to the indictment, Yakunin was in Spitsbergen from August 3 to September 6, 2022 and repeatedly used a drone. The trial of the businessman will be held on November 29.
Germany has found itself reaping the consequences of the crisis in Ukraine, facing skyrocketing energy and food costs, recession and the danger of permanent deindustrialization as Washington and Brussels continue to call for more and more sanctions against Russian energy to try to “punish” Moscow for its military operation in Ukraine.
The United States and its allies have spent the entire period since 2014 preparing for a confrontation with Russia in Ukraine, Oskar Lafontaine, a veteran German statesman with over forty years of political experience under his belt, has said.
“Of course, I also mean the conflict in Ukraine, which began with the Maidan putsch in Kiev in 2014. Since then, the US and its Western vassals have been arming Ukraine and systematically preparing it for confrontation with Russia. Ukraine thus became a de facto, if not de jure, member of NATO. This backstory has been studiously ignored by Western politicians and the mainstream media,” Lafontaine told Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten in an interview published Sunday.
“For more than 100 years, it has been the declared aim of US policy to prevent German business and technology from merging with Russian raw materials at all cost. It is perfectly clear that, if you take this history into account, we are dealing with a US proxy war against Russia which has been prepared for a long time,” Lafontaine said.
Crop of Spineless Leaders
Lafontaine, who has worked under Willy Brandt, Helmut Schmidt, Helmut Kohl and Gerhard Schroder, and served as president of the Bundesrat, minister president of Saarland, minister of finance, and leader of Die Linke and the SPD, blasted the current crop of German and European leaders for going along with policies which have brought Berlin to the brink of disaster.
“It is unforgivable that the SPD in particular betrayed the legacy of Willy Brandt and his policy of détente, and did not even seriously insist on compliance with the Minsk Agreements,” the politician said, referring to the 2015 peace agreements meant to restore peace to the Donbass.
Lafontaine slammed the German government over its limp-wristed response to the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines, which he characterized as a “declaration of war on Germany.” It was “pathetic and cowardly” of the federal government to try to “sweep incident under the carpet,” despite evidence that “the USA either carried out the attack directly or greenlit it,” the politician said.
“It was a hostile act against the Federal Republic, and not only against us, and once again makes clear that we must free ourselves from American tutelage,” Lafontaine stressed. The politician pressed his country’s leaders to force the removal of all US military bases and nuclear weapons from German soil, and called for the creation of a European security architecture with France, separate from NATO, which he called an “obsolete” alliance that acts as a “tool to enforce the US’s claim to remain the sole power in the world.”
“To use a hackneyed expression: We are experiencing the birth pangs of the transitional phase from a unipolar to a multipolar world order. And the question arises whether we will have a place of our own in this new world order, or be drawn into Washington’s conflicts with Moscow and Beijing as American vassals,” the politician emphasized.
Recalling his decades of experience in politics, Lafontaine lamented in decades past, German leaders, “at least in some conflicts, had German interests in mind, and did not throw them overboard in anticipatory obedience” to Washington. “You need to have a backbone when you are the head of a country. The image of Chancellor Scholz standing like a schoolboy next to President Biden when he announced that nothing would come of Nord Stream 2 was humiliating.”
Ukraine Disaster
Asked whether he believed Washington has achieved its aims in Ukraine, Lafontaine said that the answer was both “yes and no,” with the principle successes being the ruined relations between Russia and the European Union, and the “sidelining” of Berlin and Brussels “as the US’s potential geostrategic and economic rivals, for the time being.”
“They are setting the policies of EU states even more than before the Ukraine conflict (thanks also to compliant politicians in Berlin and Brussels). They can also sell their dirty fracking-derived gas, and the US defense industry is doing great business,” the politician said.
“On the other hand, they have not succeeded in ‘ruining Russia’, as (German Foreign Minister Annalena) Baerbock put it…overthrowing (Vladimir) Putin and installing a puppet government in Moscow to get better access to Russian raw materials, as was the case in (Boris) Yeltsin’s time,” Lafontaine said.
“And I have the impression that Washington has now realized that they are biting on granite here. Despite massive arms deliveries to Ukraine and the dispatch of numerous ‘military advisors’, Russia, which is a nuclear power, cannot be defeated militarily. In addition, Western sanctions are proving to be a boomerang: they hurt Western states more than Russia and will cause deindustrialization, unemployment and poverty. Working people in Europe are paying the price for the world power ambitions of a mad elite in Washington and the cowardice of European leaders,” Lafontaine concluded.
A spokesperson for the country’s Prime Minister Jacinda Arden said Twitter’s automated reporting function did not pick up the content as harmful. (FILE/AFP)
The New Zealand government has called on Twitter to remove newly uploaded footage of the Christchurch terror attack that was circulating again on the social media platform.
The video clips, which Twitter initially failed to recognize as harmful, were filmed by the Australian white supremacist who murdered 51 Muslim worshippers in two Christchurch mosques in 2019. The clips resurfaced after some Twitter users reposted them on Saturday, UK daily The Guardian reported .
The move prompted the government to raise the issue with the social media company. A spokesperson for the country’s Prime Minister Jacinda Arden said Twitter’s automated reporting function did not pick up the content as harmful. Arden’s office said: “Twitter advised us overnight that the clips have been taken down and said they would do a sweep for other instances.”
In 2019, the terrorist livestreamed his attacks on multiple social media platforms alongside his manifesto.
In response, Arden launched the Christchurch Call campaign after the attack, calling on social media companies to counter online extremism and misinformation. Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey, supported the initiative.
While Twitter assured the New Zealand government it continued to support the Christchurch Call community, Arden said that “time will tell” about the company’s commitment to removing harmful content.
“We will continue to maintain our expectation that Twitter does everything they can on a day-to-day basis to remove that content but also reduce terrorist content and violent extremist content online, as they’ve committed to,” Arden said to media on Monday afternoon.
Earlier this month, Arden addressed a national security, disinformation and online extremism summit, saying Twitter has been deeply involved in the Christchurch Call campaign “and to date, been a really constructive partner.” However, she said the partnership is in “unknown territory” after Elon Musk’s takeover of the company.
Arden urged Musk, a self-described free speech absolutist, to “stick strongly to the principle of transparency” as social media platforms can be “a force for democracy, a force for connection and for good. But also, if misused, they can do a huge amount of harm.”
Under Musk’s new management, thousands of content moderators and human rights teams have been laid off, and the platform has been struggling to manage harmful content and racist tweets in the lead up to the World Cup.
Recently on Twitter, Musk posted a chart to his 119 million followers explaining that hate speech was down a third from its pre-spike levels in October. No further details were provided.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister said Twitter's automated reporting function failed to identify the content as harmful.
Twitter advised the government overnight on Friday the clips had been taken down and it would do a sweep for other instances.
The Prime Minister's office said as a member of the Christchurch Call community of 120 governments and online service providers, Twitter was expected to remove terrorist content published on its platform.
Netsafe's chief safety officer, Sean Lyons, has reminded people they can face criminal charges for interacting with illegal online content.
Lyons said if people saw anything concerning, they should report it immediately to the platform concerned and to the Department of Internal Affairs.
He said the Christchurch terror footage has resurfaced before and can be swiftly dealt with.
He said the Christchurch terror footage has resurfaced before and can be swiftly dealt with.
Meanwhile, new Twitter owner Elon Musk has tweeted hate speech messages have dropped by a third in the last few days compared with a peak of more than 10 million on 20 October.
Hate speech impressions down by 1/3 from pre-spike levels. Congrats to Twitter team! pic.twitter.com/5BWaQoIlip
The terrorist responsible for killing 51 people at two Christchurch mosques in 2019 has appealed to appeal his conviction and sentence
“I would like to tell him, ‘Grow up, be a man and die quietly in jail because that is what you deserve’.”
That was the reaction of Temel Atacocugu, a survivor of the Christchurch March 15 attacks, when asked about the terrorist’s latest attempt to appeal against his conviction and sentence.
Brenton Tarrant killed 51 people and wounded 40 others when he carried out mass shootings at two Christchurch mosques in 2019.
The Court of Appeal confirmed on Tuesday the terrorist has since filed an appeal against his conviction and sentence. No hearing has been set at this stage.
Wali Kota Surabaya Eri Cahyadi saat sidak ke RSUD dr Soewandhie. (Foto: Esti Widiyana/detikJatim)
Wali Kota Surabaya Eri Cahyadi marah ke sejumlah staf dan manajemen RSUD Dr. Soewandhie Surabaya lantaran pelayanan yang dinilai lambat, pada hari Senin , 28/11/2022. Ketika Walkot melakukan sidak.
Wali Kota Surabaya, Eri Cahyadi marah ke karyawan RSUD dr Soewandhi bukan tanpa sebab, Eri berupaya memberikan pelayanan terbaik kepada masyarakat.
Peristiwa ini terjadi ketika Wali Kota Surabaya, Eri Cahyadi melakukan sidak ke RSUD Soewandhie, pada hari Senin, 28/11/2022. Saat tiba di lokasi, Eri awalnya menanyakan kepada dua ibu lanjut usia yang hendak pulang seusai mendapatkan perawatan di Poli Orthopedi.
"Bagaimana Bu pelayanannya? Apakah lebih cepat atau bagaimana?" tanya Wali Kota Eri kepada ibu lanjut usia tersebut.
Kemudian, dua ibu tersebut menjelaskan bahwa pelayanannya sangat lama. Mereka sudah antri sejak pagi dan baru dilayani siang harinya.
Mendapatkan keluhan itu, lalu dengan sopannya Eri mengajak dua ibu lanjut usia itu menuju Poli Orthopedi lagi.
Di poli tersebut,Eri langsung menanyakan kepada para perawat yang sedang bertugas tentang masalah lamanya antrian di poli tersebut.
Antara
Ia juga menanyakan televisi yang menunjukkan nomor antrian, karena di poli tersebut tidak ada.
Perawat itu pun menjelaskan bahwa yang membuat lama hingga ibu setengah baya itu baru bisa dilayani karena berkas rekam medisnya baru datang juga.
"Oh berarti ini perkara rekam medisnya yang lama," kata Wali Kota Eri sembari meminta ajudannya untuk memanggil manajemen RSUD dr. Soewandhie.
Tiba di ruang berkas rekam medis itu, Eri tambah marah karena pelayanan di tempat tersebut sedikit.Padahal, pasien yang membutuhkan berkas rekam medis sangat banyak.
Selanjutnya, Eri pun memasuki ruangan yang penuh berkas rekam medis itu. Ia semakin marah karena berkas-berkas itu miring-miring dan seakan kurang tertata.
"Ya pantas saja lama carinya, wong penataannya begini, tidak teratur seperti ini. Kalian tahu gak, itu ada yang rekam medisnya lebih cepat dikirim lalu dilayani, tapi yang tidak datang-datang rekam medisnya sampai lama tidak dilayani pemeriksaannya. Saya sudah bilang buatlah inovasi, ini wargaku yang kalian suruh nunggu lama, kalian tahu gak?" tanya Eri kepada para staf yang bagian mencari rekam medis di ruang tertutup itu.
Di ruangan tersebut, ia nampak sangat kecewa dengan para staf itu. Sebab, berkali-kali Eri bertanya seakan tidak menemukan solusi.
Selanjutnya, Eri pun memasuki ruangan yang penuh berkas rekam medis itu. Ia semakin marah karena berkas-berkas itu miring-miring dan seakan kurang tertata.
"Ya pantas saja lama carinya, wong penataannya begini, tidak teratur seperti ini. Kalian tahu gak, itu ada yang rekam medisnya lebih cepat dikirim lalu dilayani, tapi yang tidak datang-datang rekam medisnya sampai lama tidak dilayani pemeriksaannya. Saya sudah bilang buatlah inovasi, ini wargaku yang kalian suruh nunggu lama, kalian tahu gak?" tanya Eri kepada para staf yang bagian mencari rekam medis di ruang tertutup itu.
Di ruangan tersebut, ia nampak sangat kecewa dengan para staf itu. Sebab, berkali-kali Eri bertanya seakan tidak menemukan solusi.
Rasa kecewa itu pun ditunjukkan dengan membanting berkas rekam medis itu ke lantai.
Di tengah suasana yang serba kurang enak itu, tiba-tiba ada salah seorang ASN perempuan yang berbisik-bisik sesama staf lainnya, mereka seakan membela diri soal penataan ruang rekam medis itu, dan ternyata hal itu didengar oleh Eri. Akhirnya, ASN itu dipanggilnya.
"Masak penataannya seperti ini masih dibilang rapi? Ayo kalian semua ikut saya biar kalian tahu bagaimana warga saya yang sakit antri, kasihan warga saya itu," kata Eri sambil mengajak dan menggandeng ASN perempuan itu naik lift menuju Poli Orthopedi.
Ia juga mengajak semua staf di ruang rekam medis itu untuk ikut serta ke Poli Orthopedi.
Tiba di depan Poli Orthopedi, Eri menunjukkan betapa lamanya antrean di poli tersebut hanya karena berkas rekam medis yang tidak dikirim-kirim oleh mereka.
"Ini dilihat. Mereka ada yang sudah antri dari pagi baru dilayani karena rekam medisnya gak datang-datang. Kalian itu kerja di sini dibayari oleh APBD, jangan disia-siakan wargaku," kata Wali Kota Eri dengan nada tinggi.
Tak lama kemudian, Wali Kota Eri meminta maaf kepada warga yang sudah antri lama. Setelah itu, ia langsung mengajak manajemen Soewandhie untuk rapat internal.
Dalam rapat internal itu, Wali Kota Eri meminta manajemen RSUD dr. Soewandhie untuk menyiapkan berkas rekam medis itu sehari sebelum pasien itu berobat, karena sebagian besar dari mereka sudah daftar satu hari sebelumnya di aplikasi mereka.
"Jadi, saya minta sebelum poli-poli ini buka, berkas rekam medisnya sudah harus ada di mejanya poli. Itu bagi yang sudah daftar online. Bagi yang baru daftar bisa dipisahkan dan langsung disiapkan juga dengan terpisah," tegasnya.
Wali Kota Eri Siapkan Kontrak Kerja dan Komitmen Pelayanan RSUD Soewandhie
Wali Kota Surabaya Eri Cahyadi melakukan sidak pelayanan medis di RSUD dr Soewandhie. Ia mendapati pelayanan rekam medis yang lamban. Eri bahkan menyiapkan kontrak kerja dan komitmen pelayanan rumah sakit milik pemkot tersebut.
"Sidak hari ini alhamdulillah di puskesmas sudah berubah. Tapi yang ada di RSUD BDH minggu lalu dan RSUD dr Soewandhie belum ada perubahan signifikan," kata Eri kepada wartawan di RSUD dr Soewandhie, Senin, 28/11/2022.
Kemudian, Eri baru mengetahui hal itu dari Dirut RSUD dr Soewandhie, dr Billy Daniel Messakh, jika ternyata pengambilan rekam medis terlalu lama. Buktinya ada aduan dari pasien yang antre sejak pukul 07.30 WIB namun baru dilayani siang hari.
"Apa buktinya, ketika tadi ortopedi dia 07.30 WIB dokternya sudah siap, pasien sudah siap, tapi berkas dari bawah naik ke atas itu baru 5 menit yang lalu. Mungkin ketlisut isok (hilang bisa), mungkin doleki berkas ngga onok, yo isok (cari berkas tidak ada, ya bisa). Di situlah masalahnya. Makanya saya sampaikan ini sudah," ujarnya.
Permasalahan lainnya, yakni kurangnya dokter di suatu poli, seperti di Poli Ortopedi dan Poli Bedah. Semestinya jika ada 4 dokter bisa melayani 1.000 pasien dengan cepat, namun jika 2 dari 4 dokter itu sedang melakukan tindakan operasi, maka tersisa hanya 2 dokter.
Wali Kota Surabaya Eri Cahyadi saat sidak ke RSUD dr Soewandhie. (Foto: Esti Widiyana/detikJatim)
"Sehingga yang tadi kita rencanakan sampai 3 jam, bisa jadi sampai 6 jam (pelayanan). Nah, tadi sudah kita ubah, kita sepakati, kalau kita hitungnya dokter 4, maka jam 08.00-14.00 WIB poli tidak boleh kurang dari 4 dokter. Terus sebelum poli itu dibuka, maka statusnya (rekam medis) pasien sudah ada di meja poli, jadi orangnya nggak riwa-riwi (mondar-mandir). Insyaallah dibuka," jelasnya.
Kesepakatan itu juga sudah masuk dalam kontrak kinerjanya dengan manajemen RSUD dr Soewandhie yang dilakukan sepekan lagi. Sambil ia memastikan satu poli ada berapa orang maksimal yang datang. Sehingga, dapat dilihat dari hari-hari sebelumnya poli tersebut menyediakan berapa dokter.
"Nanti kontrak kinerjanya adalah poli ini jam sekian sampai jam sekian tidak boleh ada sekian dokter. Sebelum poli dibuka, setiap meja poli ada rekam medis pasien. Kalau tidak datang, rekam medis di poli ditaruh di sebelahnya. Setiap poli harus ada TV, insyaallah TV," urainya.
Jika tidak ada komitmen dari RSUD dr Soewandhie, ia tak segan mencobot jabatan.
"Ya kontrak kinerja, berarti melorot, copot jabatan kan. Sudah," tukasnya.
NATO proxy conflict in Ukraine enters its ninth month and the security and economic consequences of the crisis continue to sharpen, some Western policymakers and pundits have begun brainstorming ways to end the confrontation before it escalates into World War III.
The US Congress could end the bloodletting in Ukraine at the stroke of a pen and perhaps even win a Nobel Peace Prize by withdrawing from NATO and transforming the alliance “from a mighty offensive oak to a tiny acorn unalarming to Russia,” Bruce Fein, a former senior official in the Reagan administration Justice Department, has suggested.
In a recent op-ed in the Washington Beltway’s top media outlet, Fein, an international law specialist and outspoken critic of US wars of aggression abroad from George W. Bush to Barack Obama, suggested that NATO became “obsolete” after 1991, “when its raison d’etre – the Soviet Empire – dissolved.”
The observer stressed that the US-led expansion of the Western bloc toward Russia’s borders “provoked” Moscow to start its military operation in Ukraine, and that Kiev’s membership in the alliance would “fortify the encirclement of an already diminished Russia,” thereby “constituting a greater existential threat to it than the existential threat the Cuban missile crisis posed to the United States.”
Moscow hinted as much late last year, after it sent twin comprehensive security treaty proposals to the US and NATO offering a series of steps which would dramatically deescalate tensions between the West and Russia. The proposals included conditions for the mutual pullbacks of troops, missiles, aircraft and warships from areas where they could be considered a threat to the other side, a request that NATO halt its attempts to expand into Ukraine and other post-Soviet states, and limits on the deployment of alliance troops along the bloc’s eastern flank. Washington and NATO rejected the security proposals, saying that the alliance would not give close its “open door” policy for inviting new members.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned in December 2021 that NATO had “squeezed” Russia up to its security “red lines,” leaving Moscow with “nowhere to fall back to.” “I have already said – they’ll put missile systems in Ukraine, 4-5 minutes flight time to Moscow. Where can we move? They have simply driven us to such a state that we have to tell them: stop,” Putin said.
But US lawmakers could allay all of Russia’s security concerns at the stroke of a pen, Fein believes. “By withdrawing from NATO, Congress would end the existential crisis” that kicked off the Ukraine crisis “and extinguish the executive branch’s ambition for regime change or weakening Russia,” he wrote.
Emphasizing that “the United States is NATO’s locomotive and the other members collectively the caboose,” the pundit pointed out that a push by Congress to quit the alliance would give Moscow the opportunity to halt its military operation in Ukraine, and assert that it achieved its goals of defending the Donbass and stopping NATO encroachment.
Pointing to the gargantuan amounts of cash available to the Pentagon, which he noted constitute a whopping $1.64 trillion in fiscal year 2022, Fein stressed that “NATO without the United States is a paper tiger and no existential threat to Russia with or without Ukraine.”
Russia is no threat to Europe either, the observer noted, pointing out that Moscow spends “a fraction” even of what Europe’s NATO members collectively lay out for defense each year, has a GDP considerably smaller than the EU’s, and has demonstrated on the ground that its military is no match for its Soviet-era precursor.
“In sum,” Fein wrote, “Russia is no military threat to Europe’s NATO members,” and a US departure from the alliance “would not leave them in the lurch.” Instead, he predicts, it would save America “hundreds of billions of dollars” in needless defense spending, including $100 billion in assistance to Ukraine, which could “drag on indefinitely” unless the conflict is stopped.
“Congress would burnish its own image and be lauded as peacemakers worldwide if it set in motion the termination of the Ukraine war by a statute ending United States NATO membership. It would also begin a desperately needed challenge to an imperial presidency,” Fein concluded.
Questions Abound
Fein did not specify how Congress could pull out of NATO, pointing to the obscure precedent set by the 1798 Congressional action which annulled a defense treaty with France. After former President Donald Trump hinted interest at withdrawing from NATO during the 2016 presidential campaign, lawmakers from both parties rushed to shore up support for the alliance, including via the NATO Support Act of 2019, effectively blocking the president from unilaterally withdrawing the US from the bloc.
Congressional support for Washington’s imperial foreign policy agenda crystalized during the debate over a $40 billion supplemental aid bill in May, when 57 House Republicans and 11 GOP senators voted against the new package of Ukraine assistance.
All 11 of these Senate Republicans and a majority of their House colleagues will remain in the new Congress when it convenes on January 3. However, it seems unlikely bordering on the fantastical that this anti-interventionist, MAGA-bent wing of the party will be able to convince the traditional neocon GOP majority on a change of Ukraine policy, much less the much more radical step of quitting NATO, as Fein recommends.
