[CapricornNoble]

>>>There is no such thing as a "NATO Aircraft carrier".

I just interpret that as "aircraft carrier belonging to a NATO member state".

>>>Iraq was not a NATO operation.

And yet there is very significant overlap of Multi-National Forces- Iraq countries with NATO member states: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-National_Force_%E2%80%93...

>>>Libya was not a NATO operation.

Have you taken a look at the Wiki article on that conflict? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_military_intervention_in_...

A couple of choice quotes: On 19 March 2011, a multi-state NATO-led coalition began a military intervention in Libya

24 March 2011: In telephone negotiations, French foreign minister Alain Juppé agreed to let NATO take over all military operations on 29 March at the latest

I'm always amazed at the number of emphatically stated positions regarding recent geopolitics/warfare/etc. that are so easily challenged with a 30-second internet search.

[qsort]

> I just interpret that as "aircraft carrier belonging to a NATO member state".

US != NATO

> very significant overlap

ah yes the overlap

> On 19 March 2011, a multi-state NATO-led coalition began a military intervention in Libya

You must have forgotten to paste the text after the comma, let us retry together:

On 19 March 2011, a multi-state NATO-led coalition began a military intervention in Libya, to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, in response to events during the First Libyan Civil War. With ten votes in favour and five abstentions, the UN Security Council's intent was to have "an immediate ceasefire in Libya, including an end to the current attacks against civilians, which it said might constitute “crimes against humanity” ... [imposing] a ban on all flights in the country's airspace — a no-fly zone — and tightened sanctions on the [Muammar] Qadhafi regime and its supporters.

I'm always amazed at the number of snarky know-it-all positions regarding recent geopolitics/warfare/etc. that are based on conveniently projecting away inconvenient pieces of information.

[femiagbabiaka]

Yes.. the U.S. is not NATO.. it just funds NATO more than any other member state, provides more troops to NATO than any other member state, provides arms more than any other member state, and NATO has never taken an action that works against the geopolitical interest of the U.S. But of course, they're completely separate entities. The Warsaw Pact was also famously not a mission by the SU, it was just a defensive treaty that happened to include them! A hegemon founding and funding a military alliance has no impact on that alliance, and all members of military alliances have equal rights under the treaty.

This is so much the case that until the invasion of Ukraine, France and other NATO members states were saying that Article 5 was effectively unenforceable for any member state save the U.S!

[jamie_ca]

> Yes.. the U.S. is not NATO.. it just funds NATO more than any other member state, provides more troops to NATO than any other member state, provides arms more than any other member state

They also have more of a population base than any other member state (4x Germany, 4.8x UK, 5x France...)

[femiagbabiaka]

Agreed, this is part of the historical reason why the U.S. is a global leader (arguably it's really the land mass of the country that's the important part but same same)

[mardifoufs]

The last part of your comment is pretty ironic. You realize that a UN resolution has absolutely nothing to do with NATO being a defensive alliance? It does not matter if they were "mandated" to attack a country that did not attack them first, it is still by definition agression. A defensive alliance would imply a reaction to an attack on your alliance, not on anything else.

If NATO only needs whatever vote it deems necessary to attack a completely uninvolved country because of a completely internal conflict, you realize that literally proves that it is not the type of neighbor you want to have?

What a completely self defeating argument lol. And that's ignoring the totally defensive strikes against serbia. Which for the record I personally think were justified, but supporting an intervention does not mean the intervention suddenly becomes defensive.