By Sefa Yürükel
The security architecture of the European continent has for decades been held in the hands of an elitist structure disconnected from the will and interests of the peoples and indexed to the strategic calculations of a transatlantic centre. This security bureaucracy, shaped in the corridors of Brussels and Washington, has systematically ignored the demands of the European peoples for peace, prosperity and sovereignty; it has dragged the continent right into the middle of endless tensions, proxy wars and an arms race. The Atlantic dependency, which perhaps had a meaning during the Cold War period, has today turned into a hump that grows heavier on Europe’s back, an economic and political cost loaded onto the shoulders of the peoples. European citizens are paying the price of this hump through energy crises, the high cost of living, social insecurity and, worst of all, the rekindled flames of war in the east of the continent. It is now a historical imperative for the peoples of Europe to take the responsibility for determining their own destiny out of the hands of the NATOist elites, to throw off this hump, to strengthen their own self defence capacity and to rise as a deterrent power that will be the guarantor of peace in the world.
The Economic and Strategic Weight of the NATO Hump
The security policies pursued under the NATO umbrella have turned into a multilayered burden on European economies that is becoming increasingly unbearable. The defence expenditures imposed with the target of two percent of gross national product function as a mechanism that gnaws at Europe’s welfare state models, undermines social policies and channels public resources into the transatlantic arms industry. These expenditures are often far from meeting the genuine security needs of the European peoples; they serve to create a market for US centred defence companies and, under the name of standardisation, stifle Europe’s own unique defence industry breakthroughs. What is more alarming are the strategic consequences of this economic burden. NATO’s expansionist logic has prevented Europe from establishing a manageable neighbourly relationship with Russia and has turned the continent into a party to an uncontrolled geopolitical tension. The peoples of Europe are paying the price of this tension, which they did not choose of their own will, through energy bills, disrupted supply chains and a heightened perception of nuclear threat. The NATO hump is no longer merely a metaphor; it is a concrete reality pointing to Europe’s economic collapse and strategic helplessness.
The Awakening of the Peoples and Taking a Stand Against the NATOist Elites
As they are crushed under this heavy hump, the peoples of Europe are becoming aware of the gap between the promises of the Atlantic centred security discourse and the bitter realities on the ground. The anti war movements rising across the continent in recent years, the wave of social opposition stretching from the yellow vests to agricultural protests, from university campuses to trade union strikes, is in fact the outward expression of the accumulated anger against the militarist and Atlanticist policies imposed by the NATOist elites. European citizens are questioning the prolongation of the war in Ukraine, the astronomical rise in energy prices, the high cost of living and the billions channelled into armament; they see that all these costs are paid at the expense of their own prosperity. This awakening has made visible the deep rupture between the bureaucratic elites in Brussels and the ordinary citizen in the street. The peoples of Europe are grasping that their security is too vital to be left to the mercy of a transatlantic headquarters and are voicing ever more loudly the will to build their own self defence with their own hands. This will cannot be suppressed, cannot be ignored and points to a historical momentum that will sooner or later find a response on the political plane.
Strengthening Self Defence and Europe’s Military Autonomy
The first and most vital step that a Europe which has thrown the NATO hump off its back must take is to build and strengthen its own self defence capacity. This objective necessitates that the European states unite their national armies around a common command, a common doctrine and a common defence industry ecosystem. Europe’s gross national product, technological infrastructure and human capital are more than sufficient to establish a defence structure capable of being a deterrent on a global scale. What is lacking is the political will to mobilise this potential and the courage to break the Atlantic dependency. Self defence is not a purely military concept; it is also a holistic sovereignty project encompassing energy supply security, cyber security, space technologies and strategic communication infrastructure. A self defence architecture rising on Europe’s own satellite systems, its own cyber defence networks, its own energy corridors and, most importantly, its own weapon systems not dependent on imports, will both protect the continent against external interventions and turn it into an actor whose word is heeded in global affairs.
Deterrence and the Mission of Peace
A Europe that has strengthened its own self defence and gained its strategic independence will not only be a deterrent military power in the world but also the most powerful advocate of peace. Although the concept of deterrence is often confused with aggressiveness, it is in fact one of the oldest and most effective methods of preserving peace. A militarily self sufficient Europe with a sovereign decision making capacity will not become an instrument of the adventurism of any global power; it will assume a role as a mediator, a stabiliser and a promoter of multilateral diplomacy in crisis regions. Today, under the NATO umbrella, Europe is seen as the subcontractor of the United States’ global rivalry, a situation that damages the continent’s image and influence in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. In contrast, a Europe with an independent defence capacity, freed from the tutelage of NATOist elites, will emerge as a reliable and reputable peace actor that can speak with all parties at an equal distance, without being part of either the Eastern or the Western bloc. Striving for peace is possible not merely through disarmament rhetoric but through concrete strategic autonomy and deterrence.
Conclusion
The NATO hump on the shoulders of the European peoples is not a gift of history but a punishment left over from the Cold War. The Atlanticist elites who insist on continuing the execution of this punishment are squandering the continent’s potential for peace, prosperity and sovereignty. The roadmap that lies before Europe is clear: to dismantle the NATOist elites through the democratic will of the peoples, to throw this hump off its back, to strengthen its own self defence and to take its place in the world as an actor that is as much a peacemaker as it is a deterrent. This path is the sole route that will remove Europe from being a forward outpost of Washington and turn it into a sovereign, respected and independent global power. Peace is built not through dependency but through self confidence and a defence will that stands on its own feet. Europe possesses more than enough of all the historical accumulation, economic strength and human wealth required to show this will.
References
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Sefa Yürükel
Danish ethnographer and social anthropologist (MA)
Aarhus University, 1997
Independent Researcher
Fields of Research: International Politics, Public International Law, Geopolitics, Sociology, Psychology, Cultural Studies, Systems and Structures.
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