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NATO supporters frequently claim the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was the greatest military alliance of all time since it won a major war without firing a shot and without suffering any casualties. The war referred to was the Cold War and, until the disintegration of the Soviet Union, that claim was valid. However, after the Warsaw Pact armies went home, NATO continued to act as if the Cold War were still being fought - and it still does.

In 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down, the issue of whether a united Germany should become a member of NATO became an immediate issue. The Russians, as might be expected, had serious misgivings, but these were overcome with the assurances given to Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev by George H. W. Bush that if the new Germany were allowed to join NATO, the alliance would not expand eastward.

The Russians also knew that Article 1 of the NATO treaty stipulated that NATO would refrain from using or threatening to use force in the resolution of international disputes and would always act in accordance with the UN Charter. Article 1 acted as a security blanket for the Russians since they could always use their veto power in the Security Council should NATO threaten to use military force.

All of this changed in March, 1999. In that fateful month, NATO decided to ignore its first article and, without consulting the United Nations, began the bombing of Serbia, allegedly to prevent genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Albanian population of Kosovo. This was a historic turning point. The alliance was suddenly converted from a purely defensive organization, acting in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter, into an aggressive military machine that could use force whenever and wherever it might choose to do so.

In the same month, despite the promises previously given, NATO was joined by three former Warsaw Pact members: Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Since then the Baltic states, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia have been given membership. Russia has been surrounded by NATO countries - some of them for historical reasons - hostile to Russia. Adding to Russian anxieties is the determination of the United States to have Ukraine and Georgia admitted to the alliance.

The U.S.'s unilateral withdrawal from the anti-ballistic missile treaty in 2002 and, more recently, its intention to place anti-missile shields in Poland and the Czech Republic, have added to Russia's concerns about NATO's true intentions. The decision of most NATO countries to recognize the independence of Kosovo, in violation of the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Accords, was also seen as a signal to the Russians that NATO had become a law unto itself.

The violation of Serbia's territorial integrity was simply ignored despite a UN resolution reaffirming Serbian sovereignty and then-Russian president Vladimir Putin's warning that a unilateral declaration of independence would set a dangerous precedent. He cautioned that Russia would follow by recognizing the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. NATO dismissed Mr. Putin's warning, apparently assuming Russian interests did not need to be taken into account.

This dangerous assumption was abruptly proven wrong in August of last year when, on the eve of the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing, Georgian armed forces suddenly attacked South Ossetia. Moscow reacted with speed and force. Within days, the Georgian armed forces were routed and Russian forces had complete control of South Ossetia.

NATO's reaction to this humiliating reversal was predictable. The United States and other NATO countries, supported almost unanimously by the Western media, condemned the Russian military action and expressed dismay and shock that Georgia's territorial integrity had been violated. The U.S. immediately promised $1-billion in aid to help Georgia rebuild.

In the months that have followed, there is little evidence NATO has learned anything. The U.S. is still pressing, despite German and French reservations, to get Georgia and Ukraine into NATO. The decision by NATO this month to hold military exercises in Georgia is a deliberate provocation to antagonize Russia. And the silly Cold War diplomatic game of mutually expelling diplomats is also back in fashion.

In a world struggling with financial and economic recession, continued bloodshed in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, a Pakistan on the verge of civil war, ongoing strife in the Middle East, and a hostile and perhaps soon to be nuclear-armed Iran - it is time for NATO to end the Cold War and make peace with Russia, a Russia that could prove to be one of the West's most useful and powerful allies in the years ahead.

It's time to end the Cold War