The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) turns 75 during the course in which Donald Trump, a staunch detractor of the political-military institution, can revalidate the Oval Office. NATO was born from Western concern regarding its geographical proximity to the Russian orbit, which has gone through desert crossings, depressions and recoveries. But recently, the shadow of Vladimir Putin has revitalized the Organization when more criticism was piling up at its door and its partners suffered greater apathy. With the recent accession of Sweden, 32 partners, it has become larger, stronger, with more money and means, capable of safeguarding the 2,550 kilometers of border shared with the Russian Federation, the flank that keeps the Organization alive, time it erodes
On April 4, 1949, 12 countries - Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States - signed the Treaty in Washington to defend their nations against any military threat. , shortly after the Second World War ended. NATO was born after the signing of an extremely short text of just 14 articles, but through which NATO has managed to offer an extremely solid legal framework that is broad and flexible enough to respond to different circumstances such as; anti-terrorist operations in Afghanistan or its greater deployment and coordination in its intervention in Ukraine after the Russian invasion.
After the end of the Cold War, in 1991, George W. Bush announced before the North American Congress a new world order based on a group of countries with a common cause, "peace and security, freedom and the rule of law." . The dissolution of the USSR led NATO to reformulate its objectives and activities until it appropriated the security of a part of the northern hemisphere with operations deployed during the last decade of the 20th century. With interventions in 1995 in Bosnia and Herzegovina against Serbian forces, in 1999 against Kosovar ethnic cleansing, and in between, in 1997, with the signing of the NATO-Russia founding act, it was intended to enter the new century with the backyard more stable European.
But the September 11, 2001 attacks against the Twin Towers showed the Organization's weakness in confronting terrorism. NATO activated, for the first time, Article 5 of mutual defense, by which the then 19 member countries had to support the United States in its intervention in Afghanistan against the Islamic State. An intervention on Afghan soil, which lasted until 2021, together with a disastrous intervention in Iraq in 2003, which countries such as Germany opposed, revealed gaps and fissures in the Atlantic security organization such as NATO.
Almost as a reminder of its genesis, after Putin's intention to conquer Kyiv in February 2022, NATO deployed, to date, its largest intervention, reinforcing weakened ties between members and reviving its sterile military capacity. In this turbulent geopolitical scenario, NATO has found its strength, in that never before have so many member countries dedicated so much money to defense spending. It is expected that in 2024, practically the majority of countries will allocate 2% of GDP to defense. In this context, NATO has presented its most ambitious financial commitment to shield Ukraine, in addition to considering it an "aspirational country" for membership in NATO, like Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina or Moldova.
Furthermore, given the paralysis of US military and economic aid to Kyiv, due to Republican opposition in Congress, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has proposed to the 32 allied countries the creation of a fund of 100,000 million euros to support Ukraine over the next five years. A proposal that raises disagreements among member countries.
Last Wednesday, NATO Foreign Ministers held a prelude to the official celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Organization in Brussels. The country that welcomed the signing three quarters of a century ago, continues to maintain a mostly favorable view of NATO, with data in favor of the Organization of 63%, according to the Pew Center, which could be decisive in the face of the North American elections in November.
