The No2Nato campaign was developed to challenge the “consensus in Westminster” and to prevent “a direct war between NATO and Russia.”

NATO’s war has led to the death of 100,000 soldiers on each side and at least 6,900 Ukrainian civilians, the displacement of over 14 million and the destruction of at least eight percent of its houses and 50 percent of the country’s energy infrastructure.

Despite the staggering loss of life, the United States and at least 27 other countries continue to transfer weapons to Ukraine, increasing the likelihood of sparking a nuclear war.

With talks of sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, it’s no surprise that we have “seen massive jumps of value in the shares of companies like Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems.” As Lowkey puts it, “this is the business of war, and that is NATO’s function in the world.” Indeed, it was NATO bombed Libya 7,700 times in seven months, not to mention the infamous 20-year war in Afghanistan, which resulted in 250,000 deaths.

Today's guest, former UK MP and member of the Socialist Labour Party, Chris Williamson, believes that NATO is no longer necessary, reminding listeners that the alliance was created to challenge “the threat allegedly posed by the Soviet Union, which, with western prodding, collapsed in 1991. So why is NATO still in existence?”

What may surprise some listeners is that many of NATO's employees now work for mainstream media outlets, including the BBC and Sky News. Lorna Ward worked as Foreign News Editor at Sky News while advising the Deputy Commander of NATO in Afghanistan.

As Lowkey puts it, it’s clear that there is an “Incestuous revolving door relationship between organizations like NATO and the main places in which we understand the world through, which is the BBC.” In fact, as the interview reveals, several BBC employees were employed by NATO while simultaneously working for the BBC, including Defence Correspondents who became NATO Spokespeople.

The next No2Nato conference will be held in London on Saturday, February 25.

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The MintPress podcast, “The Watchdog,” hosted by British-Iraqi hip hop artist Lowkey, closely examines organizations about which it is in the public interest to know – including intelligence, lobby and special interest groups influencing policies that infringe on free speech and target dissent. The Watchdog goes against the grain by casting a light on stories largely ignored by the mainstream, corporate media.

Lowkey is a British-Iraqi hip-hop artist, academic and political campaigner. As a musician, he has collaborated with the Arctic Monkeys, Wretch 32, Immortal Technique and Akala. He is a patron of Stop The War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Racial Justice Network and The Peace and Justice Project, founded by Jeremy Corbyn. He has spoken and performed on platforms from the Oxford Union to the Royal Albert Hall and Glastonbury. His latest album, Soundtrack To The Struggle 2, featured Noam Chomsky and Frankie Boyle and has been streamed millions of times.