NATO (NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION)

About NATO-

It is a USA-led military alignment.

It was founded in 1949 in Washington. 

Initially, its members were allies countries e.g. USA, UK, France etc.

NATO is also known as the Washington Alliance.

Members-

NATO is an intergovernmental military alliance among 32 countries.

The recent member state to be added to NATO was North Macedonia on 27 March 2020.

 Recently  Sweden has shown interest in joining NATO.

Finland Joins NATO-

Finland has officially joined NATO  in 2023

Sweden – 32nd member

Sweden joins NATO in 2024

 NATO members believed that Finland's membership would enhance the alliance's strength in the Baltic area.

Finland has joined NATO due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

 NATO currently recognizes… Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine as aspiring members.

Head Quarters-

Its headquarters is in Brussels, Belgium.

 Headquarters of Allied Command Operations: Mons, Belgium.

 The civilian structure-

 The North Atlantic Council (NAC)

The North Atlantic Council (NAC) -is the body that has effective governance authority and powers of decision in NATO, consisting of member states' permanent representatives or representatives at higher levels (ministers of foreign affairs or defence, or heads of state or government).

The meetings of the North Atlantic Council are chaired by the secretary general and, when decisions have to be made, action is agreed upon by consensus.^{(Not by majority)}

 The military structure- The Military Committee (MC)

The Military Committee (MC) is the body of NATO that is composed of member states' Chiefs of Defence (CHOD) and advises the North Atlantic Council (NAC) on military policy and strategy.

 The MC is led by its chairman, who directs NATO's military operations.

NATO Parliamentary Assembly-

NATO Ministers of Defense and of Foreign Affairs-

Meet at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Cold WAR-

The opposite group of NATO was WARSA(1955-1991) whose head was Russia.

There was a cold war between NATO and WARSA.

 After downfall of Russia and WARSA ,NATO became undisputed strongest military alignment of the world.

The Berlin Plus agreement –

-An agreements made between NATO and the European Union in 2002.

-EU was given the possibility to use NATO assets in case it wanted to act independently in an international crisis, on the condition that NATO itself did not want to act—the so-called "right of first refusal".

NATO’s Strength

The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the world's defence spending.

The United States alone accounts for 43% of the total military spending of the world  and the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy account for a further 15%..

- US provided some 22% of NATO’s direct funding, which covers the cost of maintaining the NATO headquarters, joint security investments and some combined military operations.

- NATO’s direct budget is relatively small, at about $2.5 billion, and is separate from national defense budgets that NATO recommends should stand at 2% of GDP.

-NATO sign SOFA-

(straits of forces agreement with Russia) at vilnes the capital of Lithonia. As per the agreement both parties will help each other in case of logistic help. And will participate in joint military exercises.

The NATO is  concentrates on the …axis of evil and rogue nations (North Korea, Iraq).

Smart Defense

The NATO leaders approved 20 projects for this initiative.

These projects cover the funding for remotely-controlled robots used to clear roads of homemade bombs or mines, the creation of a pool of maritime patrol planes from a number of nations, to use of surveillance aircraft with joint training for intelligence specialists and purchase of Global Hawk surveillance drones operated by NATO in the name of all its member states.

Missile defense

NATO’s relevance?

Than US President Trump made headlines over questioning NATO’s relevance and arguing its members aren’t paying their fair share.

The Trump comments were aimed at NATO members who have repeatedly failed to meet the target of spending 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense.

 Only five of the total members — the U.S., the United Kingdom, Greece, Estonia and Poland — now meet the standard.

NATO and India-

- In September 2011, The NATO alliance invited India to be a partner in its ballistic missile defence (BMD).

-Exploiting NATO's potential as a forum for consultation and cooperation is a 'win-win' situation, both for India and for the Alliance.

Russia-NATO Relations-

Russia has constantly raised the issue of the eastward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Over the years Russia-NATO relations have seen many ups and downs.

1994: Russia joined the partnership for peace program with NATO.

2002: the Russia-NATO council was established for handling security issues and other joint projects.

2014: The annexation of Crimea by Russia caused North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to unanimously end all cooperation with Russia. But the NATO-Russia council was not suspended.

2021: present Russia-Ukraine conflict -Eight Russian diplomats were expelled from Brussels where the Russian mission to NATO was present.

 Russian President Vladimir Putin stated displeasure in North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s expansion into Ukraine which in the end led to the present Russia-Ukraine conflic

Issues with NATO:

-Ex American President Donald Trump's  demanded that countries devote  least two percent of GDP to defence spending In 2018. However, only seven of NATO's 30 member states hit the two-percent target.

-There are Strained relationship over selling of defence equipments.

-The US has halted delivery of equipment related to its F-35 fighter jets to Turkey over its plans to buy Russia’s S-400 missile defence system.

-U.S. wants Turkey to buy the Patriot defence system of the USA, instead of Russia’s S-400s.

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