This week’s 75th anniversary NATO summit finds the alliance as critical to global security as it has been at almost any time in its history. The three-day high-profile meeting is an opportunity to reassert the continued importance of the most successful multilateral military block in history.
NATO was founded in 1949 as a collective security organization to oppose Soviet expansion and promote unity of effort within Europe and across the Atlantic. Throughout the Cold War, it played a key role in conventional military containment of the Soviet Union.
Today that containment mission continues against a growing military threat from Russia. Vladimir Putin has made it clear that Moscow’s strategic objective is to reassert control – directly or indirectly – over the countries that made up the Soviet Union, or more broadly, the Russian Empire. He touts ancient claims based on a questionable reading of history, but Putin’s flawed knowledge of the past is less concerning than his expansive vision of the future. Russia’s president is on what he believes to be a historic mission to restore the country’s global importance and expand its political domain.
The ongoing war in Ukraine underscores the vital role of NATO in maintaining Europe’s stability. Those who refer to Ukraine as being on NATO’s “eastern flank” are mistaken; Ukraine is not a flank but on NATO’s traditional front. The Alliance has always been Moscow-facing, whether confronting Warsaw Pact forces or the current beleaguered but stubborn Russian military.
NATO expansion has been at the center of the debate over Ukraine, with the Kremlin arguing that invasion was necessary to keep NATO from its borders. However, the severity of the growing Russian threat has allowed NATO to welcome two new members, Sweden and Finland, traditionally neutral countries that had never been prospective members of the bloc, even at the height of the Cold War. Ironically, this doubled the length of the very NATO border with Russia that has so alarmed President Putin.
But the question of admitting Ukraine to NATO remains controversial, especially with the current war ongoing. The summit will see no tangible progress on this question; the military stalemate at the front is mirrored by a diplomatic deadlock. Russia and Ukraine are entrenched in their positions, with both sides demanding full control of illegally occupied Ukrainian lands. Compromise, or even head-to-head negotiation, is not currently possible. Neither side has been able to break out decisively on the battlefield, and diplomacy will only begin moving when the lines on the map start shifting. NATO’s role at this stage is to present a united front against further Russian aggression while also backing the national policies of NATO member states to support Ukraine in its war.
It is noteworthy, too, that the summit is being held in Washington, DC since NATO’s “western flank” is showing signs of weakness. European leaders having been watching the tumult in American politics with concern. President Biden, amid growing doubts about his ability effectively to discharge his duties as Commander in Chief, will be observed much more closely than usual at what typically would be a routine if important event. Likewise, former (and perhaps future) President Trump’s vision for a reconfigured NATO with greater European burden-sharing and a lighter American footprint will be an important topic of discussion.
That, however, will be the extent of any rethink of the bloc. Hyperbole about the possibility of the U.S. withdrawing from the Alliance or NATO being disbanded is just an unfortunate by-product of the current overheated domestic political climate.
To the contrary, public opinion polling shows that keeping NATO strong remains a popular, bipartisan priorityfor Americans. Even among Republicans, the percentage that believes the U.S. commitment to NATO should be maintained or increased has remained remarkably steady over the last 30 years, while general public support for the Alliance has risen to 78%.
Deterrence and containment are as critical to U.S. global strategy today as they were during the Cold War. NATO has been a lynchpin in that strategic effort. As revisionist powers increasingly become more willing to use aggression as a means of pursuing their expansionist objectives, it is important to preserve and bolster NATO as an example of what the free world can accomplish in defense of its borders and its democratic ideals.
About the Author: Dr. James S. Robbins
Dr. James S. Robbins is a Senior Fellow for National Security at the American Foreign Policy Council and Dean of Academics at the Institute of World Politics.
