NATO

Theme:

• “NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)” became the main issue in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which was started on 24th February 2022.

Points to speak on NATO:

• NATO was formed after the second world war to ensure peace in Europe by protecting the European countries from the then Soviet Union. It was created in 1949 by the United States, Canada, and 10 European nations. If any external party attacks any one of NATO member nations, it is considered as an attack on all NATO nations, and all the member nations collectively defend against the attack. NATO mentioned that it is a purely defensive alliance.
• As a response, the Soviet Union created the Warsaw pact in 1955 with 7 other European nations as member nations.
• Even though NATO was established to protect the European nations from Soviet Union’s aggression, it still exists even after the Soviet Union’s disintegration in 1991, when the cold war ended.
• NATO doesn’t have its own army. The member nations send their troops to work collectively on behalf of NATO.
• Even though initially there were 12 member nations in NATO, with time several European nations joined in the military alliance. So, now NATO has 30 member nations including some former Soviet nations.
• Only European countries can ask to join NATO because it was established for security in the Euro-Atlantic area. If any European country wants to join NATO, there are certain requirements to meet such as their military forces should be under firm civilian control, they should be able to contribute to the military cooperation under NATO etc.
• Ukraine wanted to join NATO, but Russia sees it as western expansionism and is against it. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine said that it no longer wishes to join NATO.
• NATO has 9 partner countries (Afghanistan, Australia, Colombia, Iraq, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand and Pakistan), which are referred to as ‘partners across the globe’. They are not member nations of NATO. The organization and the member countries cooperate on mutual interests such as emerging security challenges.

Conclusion:

NATO was established after the second world war to ensure peace in Europe by protecting the European countries from the former Soviet Union. Even after the Soviet Union’s disintegration, NATO stood the test of time and is working towards ensuring peace in Europe and defence cooperation among member nations.

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References:

• Russia’s NATO problem: On the Ukraine war
• Ukraine conflict: What is Nato and how has it responded to Russia’s invasion?
• What is NATO, why does it still exist, and how does it work?

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