The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has arguably been the most utilized tool of imperial war since the Soviet Union fell in 1991. Ironically, the sole purpose of NATO’s creation in 1949 was to “contain” revolutionary socialism wherever it emerged. The world was a very different place in 1949. The Soviet Union had developed into an industrialized, socialist state with links to independence struggles all over the world. 1949 was also the year of the Chinese Revolution. These developments pulled nearly a third of the world’s population out from imperialism’s orbit.
NATO was initially imperialism’s counterweight to impede the growth of socialism around the world. After the Soviet Union fell, NATO evolved into an instrument of imperialist expansion. NATO pooled together the military resources of member nations around the interests of its most powerful members, especially those of the US.