The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the signing of its founding treaty today, Thursday, April 4, in Washington.
He gives a series of facts and figures regarding the formation of this military agreement during the Cold War and its strengthening as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine:
In 1949, 12 countries, including the United States of America, Canada and a number of Western European countries, founded the North Atlantic Treaty to counter the threat of the former Soviet Union during the Cold War.
As NATO’s first secretary-general, Lord Ismail, said, NATO’s purpose was to “destroy the Soviet Union, raise the Americans, and put the Germans down.”
In 1952, two hostile neighbors, Turkey and Greece, joined the pact, while Germany became a member of the military pact three years later.
After the end of the Cold War in 1989, NATO continued to expand eastward in several waves, with the agreement joining Poland and the Baltic states of the former Soviet Union, NATO bordering Russia. grew up to
After Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022, Arctic neighbors Sweden and Finland reversed their long-standing policy of non-alignment and joined NATO, bringing the number of members to 32.
In total, NATO member countries account for nearly one billion people and about 50 percent of the world’s gross domestic product.
Together, 3.2 million men and women serve in the armies of these countries. Iceland is the only member of the treaty that does not have its own army.
After the September 11, 2021, attacks on the United States, NATO used Article 5 of its collective defense only once, which states that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all.
This decision by NATO was a show of support for its leading military power (the United States) and was very different from the threat in Europe that the founders of the agreement had foreseen.
As a result of the 9/11 attacks, NATO became involved in Afghanistan; It remained there until 2021, but when the US-led withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, accompanied by troops, allowed the Taliban to regain power.
In response to Russia’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, NATO allies agreed to spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense.
Former US President Donald Trump criticized NATO countries for not spending enough and warned that doing so would encourage Russia to “do whatever it wants”.
By 2024, NATO’s 20 members are expected to spend 2 percent of their gross income on defense. In 2014, only three countries reached this level.
In June 2024, it will be 25 years since NATO deployed its troops in Kosovo in 1999 and the withdrawal of Serbian forces from the region was completed after a 77-day air campaign.
This military intervention was the second in NATO’s history after the involvement in Bosnia in the mid-1990s.
Beyond the Balkans, NATO’s other major foreign missions include nearly two decades of deployment in Afghanistan and the 2011 bombing campaign in Libya.
No country has ever left NATO, but France kept its military command out of the agreement for nearly 43 years in 1966 after then-President Charles de Gaulle complained about US dominance. .
As a result of France’s decision, NATO moved its headquarters from Paris to Brussels.