In 1982, 43 years ago, Spain joined NATO, ending its traditional policy of neutrality not only in relation to the two major world conflicts, but also in those that followed. Its friendship, security, and cooperation agreements with the United States since 1953, by which that power gained the use of three joint military bases in Spain (now two), all of them under exclusive Spanish sovereignty, had in no way affected this neutrality, as was demonstrated during the Yom Kippur War, during which Spain prohibited the United States from using them to cover Israel’s military logistical needs.
Thus, until 1982, Spain maintained, along with its sovereignty, its own military doctrine based on the defense of its national territory against potential external enemies, which were not defined because there were none, except for Morocco due to its stubborn and obstinate claim to Ceuta and Melilla, two enclaves in North Africa that were manifestly Spanish from every point of view.
NATO’s accession was a product of the complex Spanish internal political situation at the time, due to several causes, all of them in one way or another induced by the US due to its imperative need and obsession with Spain’s privileged and unique geostrategic position, a connecting point between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, and Europe and Africa. But for this very reason, because it was the US that directly or indirectly forced such accession, counting on, it must be said, the active collaboration of both King Juan Carlos I at the time and the ruling party, the PSOE, and the conservative opposition, such accession was carried out against our interests, especially our sovereignty, which was diminished beyond words and forever damaged.
As further evidence of what I’ve said, suffice it to mention that Ceuta and Melilla were literally excluded from NATO, as if they weren’t Spanish national territory, and, at the same time, we joined a military alliance, one of whose members, the United Kingdom, also militarily occupies Gibraltar, a piece of our homeland. It certainly couldn’t have been worse.
Since 1982, Spanish military doctrine has taken a complete turn, forgetting, if not rhetorically, then in practice and reality, the defense of our unity, sovereignty, and integrity. It has instead focused on active participation in what were first called “peacekeeping missions” and then, once their objective became clear that they were never “peace,” in “missions abroad” per se, involving us in virtually all the conflicts or crisis zones that have occurred since the late 1980s to the present. The Spanish Armed Forces now dedicate 75 percent of their human and material resources to such missions.
Curiously, the exception that confirms this rule, as they have never participated in them, is the one the UN has been conducting for decades in the Sahara, a territory still pending self-determination according to the UN Spain remains the legal administrator of this territory, even its airspace, but it is illegally and illegitimately occupied and subjugated by Morocco with the explicit approval of the United States—since Trump’s previous term—as well as the tacit approval of the rest of NATO members, including France, Germany, Belgium, and, more recently, Spain itself. This occupation and practical annexation are also recognized by Israel, Guatemala, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, the Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Gabon.
Based on the above, we can assert that, currently, it is NATO that dominates and controls, commands, makes, and unmakes the doctrine of our Armed Forces and, consequently, our defense policy. Two examples serve as proof: a) among the military, there is near unanimity in declaring themselves “Atlantist” (?) when it comes to defining themselves, and b) while NATO positions are always filled, and there are even more applicants than vacancies, those in the garrison units in Spain remain empty, forcing repeated calls, lowering the requirements, or forcibly assigning commands to them.
As a first conclusion, it can be stated that our membership in NATO has been manifestly detrimental to our sovereignty, and this in multiple aspects, although in this article we only focus on the military aspect, to the point that its doctrine not only distracts our military from what should be its own, aimed solely and exclusively at the defense of Spain, its sovereignty, integrity, unity, and independence, but, worse still, it has instilled in them a mistaken idea by making them believe that NATO is looking out for our interests, which is not true, as has been proven the many times they have been involved in these “foreign missions” from which, in addition to returning defeated like NATO itself, they have created potential enemies for us where we never had any and should never have.
The fact that our leaders, regardless of their political and ideological leanings—even the VOX party, which boasts of being pro-sovereignty and identitarian, but in practice is as pro-NATO as the PSOE or the Partido Popular—currently, and we greatly fear that in the future, as there are no signs of change, indicates not only that the situation will remain the same, but that it may even worsen, because both in military academies and in the training of troops, currently all voluntary and professional, the focus is solely in favor of the Alliance.
A fact to which all parties actively contribute with the laws they promote that are always contrary to our national identity, traditions, and sovereignty, in pursuit of a manifestly denationalizing and multicultural unifying globalism that they present as the only path, possibility, and good, stigmatizing any dissent, no matter how trivial. Thus, the second conclusion is that not only will nothing change, but NATO’s military doctrine may even deepen and further define Spanish national doctrine.
To conclude this analysis, and as is logical, normal, obligatory, and at the same time an honor and a pleasure, from Spain we must always look to and remember our Ibero-American brothers, blood of our blood, united by a common being and feeling, despite the times that external, different, and distant elements have tried to separate us and even pit us against each other.
Well, the process Spain has undergone since joining NATO in terms of its military doctrine has been similar to that of those nations, only in them directly and exclusively due to the influence, for various reasons, of the United States. That disastrous and deceptive “America for Americans” has been so only for the United States; that equally disastrous and deceptive “Manifest Destiny” has been so for the United States; the still “unipolar world” is so for the United States.
These three ideological guidelines have been applied with particular zeal in the Ibero-American nations; with few, rare, and very specific exceptions; although, unfortunately, to save themselves from such evil, they fell and continue to fall into another, no less evil. The fact that emerging leaders in such nations show no interest in freeing themselves from such influence and quasi-domination, coupled with the fact that their economies and productive capacities are largely directly or indirectly in American hands, suggests that nothing will change, and that their military approaches and doctrines will very likely increase such dependence; a notable example of what we are saying is what is happening with Milei in Argentina.
