NATO: Is It Still Important ?
This column is about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, established on April 4, 1949. This is how it describes itself: “ The Alliance’s creation was part of a broader effort to serve three purposes: deterring Soviet expansionism, forbidding the revival of nationalist militarism in Europe through a strong North American presence on the continent , and encouraging European political integration”.
Does NATO serve the purposes for which it was founded ? Not really. The Soviet Union no longer exists. In fact many of the countries in its former Eastern and Central Europe empire are now member of NATO. There is no sign of militarism in Western Europe and the European Union is well established. In 1949 Europe was flat on its back and didn’t have the capacity to rebuild its armies . Now those same countries are prosperous .
Ukraine is not in NATO but it has been fighting Russia to a standstill for more than four years. The US and NATO countries have been helping Ukraine without there being a treaty obligation to do so.
What is Article 5 of the NATO treaty and how important is it.? This is how the organization describes Article 5 of the treaty: “ Article 5 is the cornerstone of NATO , establishing that an armed attack against one member in Europe or North America is considered an attack against all members. It mandates that every ally will assist the attacked member with whatever action they deem necessary, including the use of force.” Look at “ whatever action they deem necessary”. No country is actually committed to any action let alone a military one. That said , Article 5 was invoked for the first and only time the day after 9/11. Some NATO countries committed military forces to the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. In the fight against ISIS European allies provided 20-30% of all air strikes.
Can Europe defend itself without the US? NATO has the potential to defend itself against Russia. The combined population of the NATO countries is three times greater than Russia’s . Their GDP is eleven times that of Russia. Even though NATO countries spend less than they should on defense, the total European Union and United Kingdom expenditures are three times that of Russia. Britain and France have nuclear weapons. One country, Poland has reached its spending commitment of five percent of GDP, has an army of 250,000 soldiers and is building towards 500,000.
An immediate challenge is deterring Russia from attacking three Baltic states ( Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ). They border on Russia and were once part of the Russian Empire. They are small in both territory and population. To its credit, NATO has established an Enhanced Forward Presence composed of a multinational force that includes Americans. The Baltic states are increasing their own military preparedness.
The present US commitment to NATO makes the alliance even stronger. America has military capability that would be hard for NATO members to replicate. Intelligence, reconnaissance, air to air refueling, and strategic airlift are examples. America also has a massive nuclear weapons arsenal. Russia would have to be willing to risk a nuclear war if it attacked a NATO country.
Can the US withdraw from NATO ? Yes. Withdrawing from NATO officially would require the consent of Congress. However our president has been pouring disrespect on NATO and threatened not to defend countries that don’t spend enough on defense. Our president has threatened to make Canada the 51st state and to seize Greenland from Denmark. Both are NATO members. In a sense our president has partially withdrawn already.
Does the United States Benefit from being in NATO? Yes. At the Munich Security Conference earlier this year 16 US Ambassadors to NATO made this statement:
“ NATO is not an act of American generosity. It is a strategic bargain that ensures the United States remains the world’s most powerful and economically secure nation at a fraction of the cost of going it alone.”
We have discussed military power. In terms of the importance of economic security the US Chamber of Commerce says this: Europe is the most important economic partner for the United States driving $6 trillion in transatlantic economic activity and supporting 26 million jobs. The highly integrated relationship … secures critical global supply chains and fuels domestic investment.”
There is also the question of our nation’s values. The defense of democracies has been important to our country at least since the First World War. Most NATO countries are democracies and they are threatened by authoritarian Russia .
Final Thoughts: NATO does not serve the same purposes as it did in 1949 . However it is very important for the needs of the 21st century. NATO is not perfect but it is getting stronger as our allies build up their own defense capability. Our country is more secure having NATO allies than it would be without them.