North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

09 Mar North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – Today Current Affairs

(GS Paper-II, Polity,Constitution,Governance,Social Justice and International Relations) 

Source: The Hindu

Why in News?

The current situation in Ukraine basically originated from the Ukraine’s desire to be part of NATO, as Russia didn’t like it and considered it as an existential threat to itself.

Today Current Affairs

About NATO

• It was established by the US, Canada and several western countries in the year of 1949 to ensure their collective security against the Soviet Union.
• Now it has become an intergovernmental political and military alliance of 30 countries, consisting of 28 Europeans and two North American countries.
• NATO has its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
• It became the first peacetime military alliance by the US outside western hemisphere.
• The democratic values are promoted by NATO and enable members to consult and cooperate on defence and security related issues.
• Further it is committed to peaceful resolution of disputes and use of military power to undertake crisis management operations if diplomatic efforts fail.
• The Members of NATO are committed to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party.
• The defence of all lies at the heart of NATO,a unique and enduring principle that binds its members together, committing them to protect each other and setting a spirit of solidarity within the Alliance.

Inception of NATO : The Hindu Analysis

• The European nations which battered started rebuilding their economies after World War II.
• At this point of time the US believed that an economically strong, re-armed and integrated Europe was critical for preventing the westward expansion of Communist USSR.
• The Marshall plan i.e the European Recovery Programme promoted the idea of shared interests and cooperation between the US and Europe.
• The USSR declined participation in the Marshall plan and discouraged Eastern European states in its fear of influence from receiving economic assistance from America. Today Current Affairs.
  
• A group in erstwhile Czechoslovakia in 1948 was sponsored by the government of Stalin, which led to installation of a Communist regime in a country sharing a border with both Soviet controlled East Germany and the pro-West West Germany.
• All this led to a conclusion that an American-European alliance was necessary against the USSR. The Hindu Analysis.
  
• A treaty was signed by the UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg  in 1948 according to which if any of the signatories faced attack, they would be defended by all the others.
• The landmark resolution was passed by the US Congress after the Brussels treaty advising the US President to seek US and free world security through support of mutual defence agreements.
• The treaty was signed in Washington DC in 1949, it initially had 12 signatories: The US, UK, Canada, France, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Portugal, the Netherlands, Italy, Iceland and Luxembourg.

Issues with Russia : The Hindu Analysis

• We know the reason for the establishment of NATO i.e. the hostility to the USSR.
• In order to have collective defence of its own, The Soviet Union signed a pact known as the Warsaw Pact with seven Eastern European countries: Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Bulgaria and Romania. 
• The Warsaw pact ended with the end of the Cold War and was formally declared disbanded in the year of 1991.
• The USSR, Czechoslovakia and East Germany were disintegrated and the remaining five signatories of the Warsaw pact became part of NATO.
• Later on Russia became suspicious and insecure about the West.
• For Russia it became critical for its security to have a buffer between NATO and Russia along its western and southern border.
• On these lines Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 because the hostile Ukraine protected by NATO could have missile launch pads near Moscow and could cut off access of Russia to the warm water ports of Black Sea.

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Vivek Raj