What is NATO? What role does the organization play in the region?
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Spread Wednesday , 02 February 2022
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Spread Wednesday , 02 February 2022
6 minutes reading
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London, United Kingdom (CNN)-- NATO is a European and North American defense alliance created to promote peace and stability and protect the security of its members. It was created with the escalation of the Cold War and is based in Brussels, Belgium.
The goal of the US-led coalition was to protect the countries of Western Europe from the threat posed by the Soviet Union and to counter the spread of communism after World War II.
Twelve founding nations—the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and eight other European nations—signed the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949, pledging to protect each other by political and military means.
Over the decades since, the alliance has grown to include Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Montenegro. , the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Ukraine is not a member of NATO, but it has long hoped to join the alliance. This is a sore point for Russia, which sees NATO as a threat and strongly opposes the move.
Amid recent tensions with the West, Russia has demanded iron-clad guarantees that the alliance would not expand eastward—particularly in Ukraine.
But the United States and NATO resisted these demands. NATO has always had an "open door policy", which states that any European country willing and willing to undertake membership obligations and commitments is welcome to apply for membership. Any decisions on alliance expansion must be approved unanimously.
After the end of the Cold War, NATO made it clear that it would welcome expansion to the east, and in 1997 the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland were invited to begin accession talks.
Since then, more than a dozen countries from the former Eastern Bloc, including three former Soviet republics, have joined the alliance.
Despite major geopolitical changes since the founding of NATO, its stated goal remains the same. The basic principle underlying the Alliance is collective defense: "An armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America will be considered an attack against them all."
The principle of collective defense is enshrined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. It ensures that the resources of the entire alliance can be used to protect any member state. This is critical for many smaller countries that would be defenseless without their allies. Iceland, for example, does not have a standing army.
Since the United States is the largest and most powerful member of NATO, virtually any country in the alliance is under the protection of the United States.
In fact, the first and only time Article 5 was invoked was in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. As a result, NATO allies joined in the invasion of Afghanistan.
However, NATO has taken action on other occasions as well.
Collective defensive measures were put in place in 1991 when it deployed Patriots during the Gulf War, in 2003 during the Iraq crisis, and in 2012 in response to the situation in Syria, also with Patriots. These three defensive measures were at the request of Turkey.
NATO depends on the contribution of the forces of the member states, which means that it is essentially as strong as the individual forces of each country. It is in the interests of the entire coalition to ensure that each country puts sufficient resources into its defense.
This has been one of the main sticking points in the alliance, with the US and UK often criticizing other member states for not giving it their fair share.
US military spending has always exceeded the budgets of other allies since the founding of NATO in 1949. But the gap widened when the United States boosted spending after the 9/11 attacks.
Under NATO guidelines, each country must spend 2% of its GDP on defense, but most countries do not reach that target.
Former US President Donald Trump was particularly outspoken on the matter, calling on European countries to do more, and at one point suggesting that they "pay back" their previous deficit to the United States.
According to the latest estimates from NATO, seven member states, namely Greece, the United States, Croatia, the United Kingdom, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Romania and France, have achieved the 2% target in 2021.
Still, that's a huge improvement. In 2014, only the US, UK and Greece were spending more than 2%.
At that time, all member states that were below the threshold committed themselves to ramping up military spending to reach the target within a decade. Most of them stick to the promise.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
The goal of the US-led coalition was to protect the countries of Western Europe from the threat posed by the Soviet Union and to counter the spread of communism after World War II.
Twelve founding nations—the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and eight other European nations—signed the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949, pledging to protect each other by political and military means.
Over the decades since, the alliance has grown to include Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Montenegro. , the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Ukraine is not a member of NATO, but it has long hoped to join the alliance. This is a sore point for Russia, which sees NATO as a threat and strongly opposes the move.
Amid recent tensions with the West, Russia has demanded iron-clad guarantees that the alliance would not expand eastward—particularly in Ukraine.
But the United States and NATO resisted these demands. NATO has always had an "open door policy", which states that any European country willing and willing to undertake membership obligations and commitments is welcome to apply for membership. Any decisions on alliance expansion must be approved unanimously.
After the end of the Cold War, NATO made it clear that it would welcome expansion to the east, and in 1997 the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland were invited to begin accession talks.
Since then, more than a dozen countries from the former Eastern Bloc, including three former Soviet republics, have joined the alliance.
Despite major geopolitical changes since the founding of NATO, its stated goal remains the same. The basic principle underlying the Alliance is collective defense: "An armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America will be considered an attack against them all."
The principle of collective defense is enshrined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. It ensures that the resources of the entire alliance can be used to protect any member state. This is critical for many smaller countries that would be defenseless without their allies. Iceland, for example, does not have a standing army.
Since the United States is the largest and most powerful member of NATO, virtually any country in the alliance is under the protection of the United States.
In fact, the first and only time Article 5 was invoked was in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. As a result, NATO allies joined in the invasion of Afghanistan.
However, NATO has taken action on other occasions as well.
Collective defensive measures were put in place in 1991 when it deployed Patriots during the Gulf War, in 2003 during the Iraq crisis, and in 2012 in response to the situation in Syria, also with Patriots. These three defensive measures were at the request of Turkey.
NATO depends on the contribution of the forces of the member states, which means that it is essentially as strong as the individual forces of each country. It is in the interests of the entire coalition to ensure that each country puts sufficient resources into its defense.
This has been one of the main sticking points in the alliance, with the US and UK often criticizing other member states for not giving it their fair share.
US military spending has always exceeded the budgets of other allies since the founding of NATO in 1949. But the gap widened when the United States boosted spending after the 9/11 attacks.
Under NATO guidelines, each country must spend 2% of its GDP on defense, but most countries do not reach that target.
Former US President Donald Trump was particularly outspoken on the matter, calling on European countries to do more, and at one point suggesting that they "pay back" their previous deficit to the United States.
According to the latest estimates from NATO, seven member states, namely Greece, the United States, Croatia, the United Kingdom, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Romania and France, have achieved the 2% target in 2021.
Still, that's a huge improvement. In 2014, only the US, UK and Greece were spending more than 2%.
At that time, all member states that were below the threshold committed themselves to ramping up military spending to reach the target within a decade. Most of them stick to the promise.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
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