Scores of people have staged a protest in a northern German port city against the deployment and transport of NATO troops and weapons through the city. The protesters marched through the city of Bremerhaven, holding signs and banners that read, “No NATO deployment! End the militaristic march against Russia!” and “Out of NATO.”

An author and commentator believes the ultimate goal of NATO’s enlargement is to break up Russia into very small and powerless client states.

“The pretext for NATO expansion and the continuation of NATO was the bombing of Belgrade by Bill Clinton in 1999, which was part of an orchestrated US plan to break up the last nominally socialist country, and very independent country in Europe, which was Yugoslavia, and they succeeded and happily have a group of very small powerless client states. That is the ultimate goal against Russia,” John Steppling told Press TV in an interview on Sunday.

He also dismissed the constant rhetoric about Russia being an existential threat as “exaggerated” and “jingoistic,” adding that Moscow has done nothing aggressive against the West.

The commentator further asserted that Russia’s annexation of Crimea was a “rational” and “self-protective” move.

He also criticized the Western media for never mentioning the Crimea referendum of March 2014 and going along with the idea of NATO build-up near Russia's borders.

Steppling further noted that a lot of the rhetoric against Russia has to be seen as part of a movement to delegitimize US President-elect Donald Trump before he takes office.

He also described US President Barack Obama’s lame-duck period as “very dangerous,” arguing that the Western aggression against Russia is frightening.

The commentator further praised the protests against NATO’s expansion in Germany. However, he denounced the mainstream media for not covering them.