Word: nato
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This year, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the world’s largest and most powerful military alliance, will celebrate its 60th birthday. Since 1949, NATO has provided for the collective defense of the United States, Canada, and their European partners. Today, NATO’s 26 member nations collectively contribute millions of troops, trillions of dollars of material and services, and entire libraries of intelligence information to a central command in Brussels, Belgium, while NATO military units are involved in regional security and peacekeeping developments in the Western Balkans, the Gulf of Aden, and Afghanistan...
...While these developments—as well as the expansion of the alliance into the central European region in 1999 and 2004—are encouraging, the transatlantic partnership must return to its roots. If NATO is to remain relevant to European security, the organization must refocus its energies toward defending its newest and most vulnerable members against a Russian resurgence. At the same time, harebrained schemes for further expansion must be reconsidered. Toward that end, NATO must adopt a more comprehensive agenda—one that tackles larger issues like energy and information security, economic stability, and the details...
...regional divide in NATO must be overcome to make this reform a reality. Specifically, this means recognition across the continent that a resurgent Russia represents a very real and even existential threat to some members of the alliance. The recent history of Eastern and Central Europe helps to explain why the newer members of NATO—especially Poland and the Baltic states—are extremely concerned with a Russian military resurgence. The invasion of Georgia last year should serve as a chilling reminder of just how far Moscow is willing to go to preserve its national interest...
...advisers, acknowledged the issue directly. "The challenge that we face is working closely with our friends and allies to underscore where we think we have shared challenges and where we address shared threats," he said. "And so that's obviously going to be an issue we discuss with our NATO allies...
...real impact on the country has been limited. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has urged Europeans to "share the heavy lifting" with the U.S., but some E.U. members, like Austria, Belgium and Portugal, do not even have an accredited resident ambassador in Kabul, undercutting their governments' proclamations of support for non-military policies. Afghanistan is also expected on the agenda when Obama meets fellow NATO leaders at their summit in Strasbourg-Kehl on April...