{"id":2846,"date":"2013-08-20T16:41:40","date_gmt":"2013-08-20T16:42:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/?p=2846"},"modified":"2013-09-03T14:53:22","modified_gmt":"2013-09-03T14:53:22","slug":"no-easy-fixes-for-nato-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/no-easy-fixes-for-nato-2\/","title":{"rendered":"No easy fixes for NATO"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"To paraphrase Shakespeare: Alas poor NATO.\u00a0 We knew it well.<\/span><\/div>\n
My second column for 2013 bemoaned the absence of even the mention of NATO–the North Atlantic Treaty Organization— in the strategic dialogue that accompanied the start of President Barack Obama\u2019s second term.\u00a0 Founded in Washington in April 1949 as a counterweight to the emergence of a hostile Soviet Union, NATO became the most successful military alliance in history. Clearly, the strategic \u201cpivot\u201d to Asia announced last year by the White House had overshadowed and eclipsed the importance of Europe.\u00a0 And, today\u2019s violence in Egypt and Syria as well as the ongoing chaos in Iraq, Afghanistan with Iran\u2019s nuclear ambitions still unclear, has further obscured the strategic visibility of Europe and the alliance that binds both sides of the Atlantic together.<\/span><\/div>\n
Four years ago, in preparation for re-writing its strategic concept, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO\u2019s Secretary-General, commissioned a \u201cgroup of experts\u201d led by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, to provide a context for this document.\u00a0 On the day of the conference marking the start of this process, Dr. Albright was asked directly as to whether NATO was still relevant or a relic.\u00a0\u00a0 That question remains central to the future of the alliance.<\/span><\/div>\n
Next year, NATO will hold its biannual heads of government summit.\u00a0 Obviously, THE central issue on the agenda will be the future of Afghanistan and NATO\u2019s engagement after the withdrawal of all of its combat troops presumably by the end of 2014.\u00a0 What alliance forces, if any, will remain for training and other purpose has not yet been settled although the American decision will clearly be the determining factor.<\/span><\/div>\n
But with the U.S. pivot to Asia, turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East, Turkey\u2019s political difficulties and severe cutbacks in defense spending within the alliance, NATO\u2019s future is far from certain. \u00a0The strategic concept defined collective defense, crisis management and cooperative security as the underpinnings for the alliance.\u00a0 Collective defense reflected the heart of the treaty, Article V, and the commitment that \u201can attack against one was an attack against all.\u201d\u00a0 The first time Article V was ever invoked was on September 12th<\/sup>, 2001, the day after the Twin Towers collapsed.<\/span><\/div>\n
The debate that persists among the alliance\u2019s twenty-eight members is between Article V and crisis management, the latter reflecting out of area missions particularly the war in Afghanistan in which threats external to NATO\u2019s borders require alliance responses and the former, direct aggression and attack sparked by fears of a rejuvenated and potentially hostile Russia.\u00a0 Severe reductions in the size of alliance military forces of course sharpens and intensifies this debate about NATO\u2019s future role and purpose.<\/span><\/div>\n
Given these circumstances and general public apathy towards NATO as well as strong opposition to the war in Afghanistan, has the alliance any future beyond serving as an insurance policy and not the centerpiece for assuring Western security?\u00a0 Has NATO, as with every other alliance in history exceeded its shelf life?\u00a0 Or, does the alliance retain the importance and significance in keeping its members safe and secure as when the Soviet Union was the only adversary?<\/span><\/div>\n
These questions should be weighed very heavily and then answered by the administration and Congress.\u00a0 Yet, the chances that this will happen are not good for reasons noted above.\u00a0 Can anything be done to reverse the odds?<\/span><\/div>\n
Here are three suggestions that do not require spending any more money.\u00a0 First, NATO needs a good elevator speech to define its importance.\u00a0 Second, a name change is long over due (after all, of the 28 members only eight actually border on the Atlantic).\u00a0 Third, the public must be engaged and informed in all of this.<\/span><\/div>\n
General The Lord Ismay, NATO\u2019s first Secretary General, quipped that the purpose of NATO was to keep the Americans in, the Germans down and the Russians out.\u00a0 As far as purpose, NATO is now about keeping its members safe, danger out and Russia with.\u00a0 One can also add keeping the Americans in should that be necessary.<\/span><\/div>\n
About a name, \u201cE\u201d was once referred to as \u201cEasy\u201d in the phonetic alphabet.\u00a0 And \u201cE\u201d is an easy fix for the alliance.\u00a0 NATO should be renamed \u201cNAETO\u201d—North America-Europe Treaty Organization—reflecting its true membership.<\/span><\/div>\n
Last, NATO must launch a public diplomacy campaign to make the case for its importance. The easiest way to do that is through talks, public meetings and discussions with elected leaders in parliaments and assemblies on NATO and its future role by former and respected senior military leaders with the experience and background to be credibly received by its citizens.<\/span><\/div>\n
When or if the White House gets around to planning for the 2014 NATO summit, it might consider these ideas. Otherwise NATO will become a relic and no longer relevant to transatlantic security.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To paraphrase Shakespeare: Alas poor NATO.\u00a0 We knew it well. My second column for 2013 bemoaned the absence of even the mention of NATO–the North Atlantic Treaty Organization— in the strategic dialogue that accompanied the start of President Barack Obama\u2019s second term.\u00a0 Founded in Washington in April 1949 as a counterweight to the emergence of a hostile Soviet Union, NATO became the most successful military alliance in history. Clearly, the strategic \u201cpivot\u201d to Asia announced last year by the White House had overshadowed and eclipsed the importance of Europe.\u00a0 And, today\u2019s violence in Egypt and Syria as well as the ongoing chaos in Iraq, Afghanistan with Iran\u2019s nuclear ambitions still […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,76,86,102],"tags":[137],"class_list":["post-2846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-en","category-harlan-ullman-en","category-international-peace-security","category-issues","tag-no-easy-fixes-for-nato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2846"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2853,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2846\/revisions\/2853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}