NATO: A Very Useful Tool For the United Nations
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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), created during the post-World War II era for the stated purpose of defending western Europe against the Soviet bloc, is still viewed by many today as a needed military bulwark guarding democratic nations against the threat of foreign aggression. One adherent of this view, President Joe Biden, stated on May 18 of this year that “NATO guarantees the security of one billion people in Europe and North America — united by our shared commitment to democratic principles and our vision of peace and prosperity in Europe and around the world.”
Biden added, “My commitment to NATO and Article 5 is ironclad” — despite the fact that Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which created the military alliance in 1949, circumvents the war powers of the U.S. Congress, which under the Constitution possesses the power to declare war. However, under NATO’s Article 5, “The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them … will assist the Party or Parties so attacked.”
When NATO was created, there were 12 member nations — France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland — meaning that the United States, by becoming a party to the treaty, had pledged to come to the defense of 11 other nations. Today there are 30 member nations — and in the not-so-distant future there could be more. In his May 18 statement quoted above, Biden expressed his support for “the historic applications from Finland and Sweden for membership in NATO.”
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