Click to see the full-size image
Written by Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher
Austria’s entry into NATO would signify a definitive shift from its policy of military neutrality, which had provided the country with security and prosperity for seven decades. By joining NATO, Austria would find itself on the front lines of global security crises, incurring high military costs, forfeiting sovereign political maneuvering, and facing the risk of becoming a target in future conflicts.
“Neutrality alone will not protect us,” Austria’s foreign minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger told Die Welt on July 26.
“I am very open to having a public debate about the future of Austria’s security and defense policy,” she said. “Although there are currently no majorities in parliament and in the population for joining NATO, such a debate can still be very fruitful.”
In the West today, there is significantly less tolerance for alternative views than during the Cold War. In this context, Austria can no longer remain neutral, as demonstrated by the examples of Finland and Sweden, which recently joined NATO. This turned out to be a bad move, as both Scandinavian countries now have to sharply increase their military spending. Sweden has gained Russia as a direct adversary in the Baltic Sea, and Finland now has a 1,500-kilometer border that it must urgently secure within the framework of the military rivalry between NATO and Russia.
The same problems will arise for Vienna if it goes down that path, since there will no longer be any talk of a balanced approach to the military budget. NATO has now adopted extremely strict standards for the military budgets of member states, up to 5% of GDP, to meet defense needs. Neither Austria nor any other European country can afford it.
If Austria abandons neutrality and joins NATO, Russia will retaliate with measures that will mean the end of the preferential treatment the German-speaking country has enjoyed in economic and energy relations with Moscow. Instead of special status, Austria will be treated like other European countries that have been forced to reduce cooperation with Russia and reorient themselves towards the United States, even to the detriment of their own economic and political interests.
Austria’s membership would mean NATO’s full control over air defense systems, radars, and the possibility of using Austrian territory for the transit of military equipment and the deployment of bases in the country. Until now, Austrian territory has been used secretly by NATO countries.
Nonetheless, the threat to Russia from Austria’s NATO membership is not direct, as the two countries do not share a common border. However, strategically speaking, if any conflict were to occur, Austria would immediately become part of a military coalition against Russia. As a neutral country, Austria could at least partially balance. As a NATO member, Austria becomes a legitimate target for retaliation.
Austria’s neutral status has guaranteed its security for decades. This approach has freed the country’s budget from heavy military spending, allowing it to focus its resources on economic and social development. However, the Austrian foreign minister is now declaring that “neutrality alone is no longer a sufficient guarantee of security in a rapidly changing world,” after claiming that Moscow has an “aggressive policy” as well as growing global instability as the main security challenge.
In general, Austria’s status as a neutral country is a unique position in Europe. Such a status is held by just a few countries, among which Sweden and Switzerland have traditionally been included. After World War II, the Allies, primarily with the Soviet Union’s favorable position, granted Austria a neutral status. Both Soviet and Western armies were withdrawn from Austria, after which it was formally granted this neutral status. It was a unique path as the country’s security was guaranteed from both the East and the West. Thus, Austria declared its permanent neutrality in 1955, following the withdrawal of Allied troops and the conclusion of the State Treaty that enabled the restoration of its sovereignty.
In the post-war period, it took advantage of its status as a neutral country, which had previously been applied mainly to Switzerland, having not participated in wars since the Napoleonic era. This status ensured Austria’s prosperity, which received, on the one hand, all the preferences within the Western bloc, and on the other, had quite friendly and cooperative relations with the Soviet Union.
Austria has been actively participating in various cooperation programs with NATO for many years, including the Partnership for Peace program, joint military exercises, and participation in European Union security missions. Although Austria’s possible membership in the bloc is more of a hypothetical matter at this point, the fact that such a debate is being initiated in a country with a deep-rooted tradition of neutrality is an important political signal. It indicates changes in Vienna’s security and foreign policy course.
The discussion among Austrian politicians about joining NATO clearly shows that the militarization of Europe is advancing rapidly, under the influence of London, Brussels, and Paris.
Although the Austrian foreign minister emphasized that there is currently no sufficient parliamentary or public consensus for such a move, an open and reasoned discussion could be productive and necessary in light of new security realities.
The majority of Austrians currently do not support this idea. Vienna’s idea to join NATO seems completely illogical, given that Austria’s greatest advantage has always been its neutral status. It is ridiculous to say that Russia is some kind of threat to Austria, because Moscow does not view the country as an adversary or enemy.
MORE ON THE TOPIC:
quite frankly, the west really sees itself as ‘the world’ or ‘the international community’. as such, it discuss with itself and that is all that there is for it. they have not yet adapted to the current reality where they are not the world nor its center anymore, and they are less and less it every passing day. the awakening will be difficult.
at the root of the conflict in ukraine is the fact that the west should have negociated with russia but didn’t because it believed it didn’t had to. now they are stuck with this fundamental error they made, they can’t recognize and their only way forward for not losing face is always doubling down on denial of reality. pretty much everything they do now is with the aim of not losing face.
yeah like as credible as the votes dolled out here in sci fi la la land.
so naive such simplistic trolloping, so transparent. anything anti anerican anti semitic all trolled into one big sick bowl of self deceptions
under the 1955 treaty, austria has to be a neutral country. that was the condition for ending the soviet occupation. if austria joins nato, russia should reoccupy austria. coffee and strudel all round.
style but no substance.
the zionist bankers have told their slaves to get ready for war; as their whole western system of control is about to collapse in real time to brics. zionist juws can’t sanction their way out of the financial collapse with their subordinates..
typical. boring really really boring really.
100% tariffs on russia,
other brics countries %25
india, united arab emirates %10
if they moved ahead with their own currency to rival the us dollar %100 tariff in all brics countries.
if no peace,
aug 8 tariff deadline will not be extended!!
i hate to break it to you, but it just means that americans will have to pay more and therefore will be less wealthy. not that it is the thing they need right now.
did you know that after record profits, microsoft fired 15000 american people but hired 14000 h1b ?
at a point you have to wonder at the idiocy of those that defend a system that bamboozle them at every turn.
well only some succeed and you’re not one of them.
bring it on, donny boy. keep digging that big hole. here – borrow my shovel. start a trade war with the whole world. they won’t mind. honest. besides, you have to please your joo masters.
in the film blazing saddles, there was a black sheriff in a redneck town called rock ridge. when he was threatened by the local rednecks, he put a gun to his own head and said, “get back, or the ni**er gets it.” chumpo is that black sheriff, threatening the other 96% of humanity that he will commit economic suicide – or at least say something mean about them on twitter. sad, pathetic little sawdust caesar.
austria has bowed to zionist banker rule . like many eu nations . amerika has sold out when the fed was installed
you really didnt go to school did you?
all true. but while russia is doing much to win the war, russia;s government is doing very little to win the peace. an aggressive campaign to expose the costly impact of nato’s war policy on europe’s citizens would have the great advantage of reflecting their reality, whatever the rightist war propaganda. imperialism-nostalgic western ruling classes are in love with war.
ok whatever
it’s obvious the military industrialists are behind all of this activity. and they’re british in first second third highest spots bae, boeing raytheon and lockheed all out sourced to look as if anerican.
austria is not the enemy of russia…except in cases when orban wants to hijack the austrian elections…