by Leslie Soule
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So, let's start off by asking, "What, exactly, IS NATO?"
It is an acronym that stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance with twelve original founding members. The group was originally formed on April 4, 1949, and its stated purpose on its website is: " NATO’s essential and enduring purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of all its members by political and military means. Collective defence is at the heart of the Alliance and creates a spirit of solidarity and cohesion among its members.."
Its motto is animus in consulendo liber, which is Latin for "A mind unfettered in deliberation". There are currently thirty-one member states (with some speculation that the future number is intended to be thirty-three with the introduction of Sweden and eventually Ukraine, as the number thirty-three is believed to have occult significance). Its headquarters is in Brussels, Belgium.
The original twelve founding members of NATO include Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the UK, and the US. No member country has rescinded its membership. To do so, any country that wants to leave the alliance must send the United States a "notice of denunciation," which the U.S. would then pass on to other allies. After a one-year waiting period, the country that wants to leave would be out.
There is currently controversy regarding NATO's role post-Cold War.
In an article for Al Jazeera titled "Desperately Seeking Relevance: NATO In The 21st Century", writer Alex Gatopoulos states that, "[...] NATO has struggled to redefine its role and relevance since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, despite expanding its domains to include outer space and cyberspace, and recently re-focusing some of its attention on its old nemesis, Russia. It now also extends far beyond Europe, past Iraq and Afghanistan, to its new main concern, China."
Gatopoulos goes on to explain that NATO continued past its original mission - "Yet despite the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, NATO kept going. Instead of being dissolved - as there was no longer any Soviet Union to contain - NATO expanded, going from 16 to 30 member states following the Soviet collapse."
Gatopoulos never answers the question of NATO's relevancy in today's world, only framing the organization as having an identity crisis - "NATO has been struggling with its ever-evolving identity since the end of the Cold War. Born from a desire for collective defense and containment of the USSR, its mandate morphed to include nation-building, peacekeeping, military-civil relations, and the never-ending fight against terrorism and organized crime, with varying degrees of success."
I had the privilege of interviewing Darin Gaub, who previously worked in NATO partnership training efforts.
1. In your opinion, IS NATO having an identity crisis?
a. In a way, yes, they are having an identity crisis, though Russia’s invasion of Ukraine opened the eyes of some of the NATO member nations to the fact that they need to fund their own defense and not rely so much on the United States. NATO’s initial organization, goals, and aspirations were worthy of pursuit as a counter to the Soviet Union. The question after the fall of the Soviet Union was, “What’s next?” This led to NATO alignment in Afghanistan as the 9/11 attack on the United States invoked Article V of the NATO charter, and forces took part in a Global War on Terror. The question was then, and remains today, one of determining if NATO should be pursuing missions globally rather than focusing on member nation’s concerns within their physical boundaries. Ukraine is another example. Ukraine is not a NATO member and shouldn’t be, but Russia’s invasion made the war a NATO problem as refugees flooded over the borders of NATO nations, and those same nations provided war materiel to Ukraine.
2. What do you believe of NATO's current role in the world?
a. NATO’s current role is ill-defined enough to allow it to pursue military adventures globally should the members choose to. However, NATO's role should remain focused on those things that could cause a truly existential threat to the West and democratic institutions. Today, this looks like unchecked immigration, attacks on energy and food security, and China’s desire to expand BRICs, for example.
3. Should there be limits to NATO's expansion?
a. Yes, NATO expansion for the sake of expansion is dangerous. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was caused largely by the fact that the United States refused to categorically state that Ukraine would not become a NATO member state. This is even though Ukraine doesn’t meet the requirement to be a member because they have contested boundaries and many other issues. Russia does not want NATO nations lining its western border. This would be like the old Soviet Union asking Mexico to be a part of their union. The more member nations join NATO, the more likely something happens to trigger an Article V response that could ignite a global conflict.
4. The Al Jazeera article mentions NATO expanding into outer space, but this is the first I've heard of that. Could you tell us a bit more about that?
a. Space is like the ocean in many ways regarding law and custom. The bottom line is that there’s no need to expand NATO into space when that’s just like saying we are expanding NATO into the Pacific Ocean because an American or German warship is in international waters. Another comparison is cyber. Space and Cyber are “domains” of operation used by nations, and they are not physical boundaries to be defended in the way our own borders should be. We have assets in those domains we use in both defensive and offensive capacities, but they are not “owned” in the way land, airspace, or territorial waters are.
5. Is NATO ready to act if China attempts to invade Taiwan?
a. Going back to previous questions, I would challenge any assertion that states that NATO has a responsibility to act in this situation. Taiwan is not a member state and does not fall under Article V. If something were to happen to cause China to invade, individual nations would have to work together as they saw fit, outside of the NATO charter.
6. And is NATO still relevant and necessary in a post-Cold-War world? a. They can be, but they should not seek a war to maintain relevance. They should operate under Reagan’s “peace through strength” policy and deter conflict rather than pursue or cause it.
