Understanding North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
What is NATO and how does it work?
NATO or The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an interjurisdictional military association among 30 European and North American countries. The organization executed the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949.
If one follows today’s geopolitical talks , they are likely to notice that the latest world order is being argued by politicians, leaders and citizens across the world, most lately in the United States and the United Kingdom. Multilateral union and trade agreements are not working, with their costs over weighing their sake.One such organization, which has been steadily questioned, is NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO has been alive since 1949 and it is worth studying. In order to understand the motto of NATO, one must figure out its impact on European security, it’s adjustability to 21st century problems and its importance to the U.S. In this essay, I explore how NATO expansion affected security in Europe and how NATO has been reduced to meet 21st century challenges. In the end, I will look upon how the organization helped to U.S. defense post 9/11 and even today.
While it seems attractive to dismiss NATO as out of date, the union’s structure is important to resolve rising problems. NATO is able to make collaborative spaces for countries across Europe and beyond to talk about terrorism and cyber security. Without the teamwork of NATO the solutions of security challenges would be slower and less effective.
NATO History and Enlargement
In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty union was made in the midst of fears of soviet expansion. In 1948 the Soviet Union sponsored a coup in Czechoslovakia, displacing its democratic government and changing it with a communist one. The United States of America and Europe, fearing further weakness in Europe, crafted a joint security pact, which came to be known as NATO. This treaty was meant to protect European allies from Soviet capture. The making of NATO pointed to an important shift of U.S. foreign policy because for the first time from the 1700s the U.S. held its security to that of its European pool.
Today, NATO is a political and military league, having 30 member states. Politically, NATO encourages democracy and encourages collaboration on security issues. Militarily, NATO handles crises that would create a threat to the security of any member states. Such problems can be humanitarian, political or military. Article 5 of NATO’s Washington Treaty specifies that an ambush attack against one or more of the member states is an attack against them all. Member states will see eye to eye that if such an attack occurs, they will assist each other to restore security.
The promise of collaborative defense has uplifted many countries in Europe to have NATO membership. The data placed for the community in NATO created a more peaceful Europe. The criteria for joining NATO reach across military and political proportions. The membership action plans made for countries who want to join NATO are a way by which current members can review the development of potential members in meeting the important conditions which sum up five areas: political economy, defense, resources, security; and legal problems. The political economic conditionality is that countries must have an elected system of government, have good relations with their neighbors, show commitment to human rights and have a market economy. The defense section promotes countries to strengthen their military so they can contribute to grouped defense and the funds section aims on increased funding for defense. The security and legal sections need protection of sensitive data and bringing national policies in line with the alliance.
The deal of disputes with neighboring countries is a central condition for joining NATO. Current members states do not want to inherit the territorial problems of new member states. These problems can turn into wars and can set off Article 5, forcing member states to defend new members in conflicts that could have been head off. Through its state for membership, NATO plays an important role in mitigating potential problems in Europe by encouraging countries to settle these problems peacefully. In order to be a part of NATO, for example, Hungary gave up territorial holds in Romania. NATO promotes the strengthening of democratic organisations across Europe by placing a support on stopping corruption and stopping ill use of minority groups. These grants to the security of Europe must not be neglected while debating the validity of NATO.
NATO and the U.S. post 9/11
Another cause why NATO should not be overlooked as unnecessary is the defense the support provided to the United States of america after 9/11. Despite non-stop criticism that NATO allies are free riders by America’s president elect, the only time the collaborative defense article of NATO was called off was in the fallout of the 9/11 attacks.
After an October 2nd 2001 information, NATO’s political decision making body stated that if an attack was directed from abroad against the U.S, it would disobey Article 5. NATO organistation agreed to eight measures to protect the United States in its fight with terrorism. These protections included a rise of intelligence sharing between the member states and a series of abilities for countries that may be part of terrorist threats. NATO countries also focus to provide the flight clearance for U.S. flights related to anti- terrorism and to give complete access to ports and airfields.
On the urge of the U.S., NATO opened its first ever anti-terror operation, Eagle Assist from October 9, 2001 to May 16, 2002. Seven NATO aircraft guard U.S. skies in order to control any planned attacks by air.
On October 26th, 2001, the Alliance opened Active Endeavor from Naples, Italy. Under this project, naval forces were sent to guide the Eastern Mediterranean and look upon shipping to detect terrorist activity, including illegal trafficking. Active Endeavor also provides guard to ships passing through the Straits of Gibraltar, between Spain and Morocco. In 2004, the project was extended to look at the whole Mediterranean Sea and to examine regional shipping locations in order to catch suspicious activity. This NATO operation has both increased security and trade in the Mediterranean region. After 9/11, NATO put hands in to the defense of the United States and kept to support America in the fight against terrorism.
NATO and U.S. Today
NATO carried on to support the U.S. by making military procedures smooth through logistical support. For help, in 1991 NATO supplies and bases were held by the U.S. led union to force Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. Today, the Air Base in Turkey is used against ISIS in an operation which was not conducted by NATO. Without NATO, the U.S. forces would need to craft different bilateral and multilateral formats in order to use land-based arms from its European allies. Such operations might even need higher approval so U.S. forces operations would be slowed down.
The United States of America contributes three-fourths of NATO’s budget. During the 2016 presidential campaign, the ex president of USA MR. Donald Trump said other NATO participants should spend more on their military. As of the reports of 2019, only 10 countries reach the goal of spending 2% of gross domestic product or GDP.During the NATO Summit of 2018, which was held on 11 th of july President Trump requested that NATO nations should expand their defense spending to 4% of their gross domestic product (GDP). To adorn, the United States was predicted to spend 3.87% of GDP on military in 2020.Trump also attacked Germany for asking the United States to protect it from Russia while importing billions in natural gas from that supplier. He accused NATO of being outdated. He claim that the organization main focus on defending Europe against Russia instead of handling terrorism. Other countries worried that Trump’s criticism of NATO and lovely words of Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin, meant they could no longer depend on the United States as an ally in case of attack.
India and NATO
India is a crucial player in the Indo-Pacific ocean, and added that the country shared many security challenges and problems with the world body, ranging from Afghanistan to international terrorismwith pakistan and maritime security in the bay of bengal and arabian sea .
Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue 2021, the secretary-general said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) looks “the value of making the partnership with like-minded democracies such as India, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea, that look up for the rules-based international order. India and NATO stak many security challenges and problems from Afghanistan, international terrorism and maritime security. NATO and India should consult, look and take concerted action together. As one of the largest troop contributors to UN peacekeeping missions, India is also an important and active international actor. India truly matters on the global scene.
