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http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/natos-70th-anniversary-op-ed-142408
- April 04 2019 00:05:00
NATO’s 70th anniversary: Op-ed
Jeffrey M. Hovenier*
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is the most successful alliance in human history. Over the past 70 years, NATO has helped to create the most secure, stable, and prosperous period in its members’ history. From deterring the Soviet Union during the Cold War to countering the hybrid threats that confront us today, NATO Allies stand shoulder-to-shoulder in protecting all our people.
When the NATO Treaty was signed on April 4, 1949, by the original 12 Allies, President Truman said its members were “not only seeking to establish freedom from aggression and from the use of force in the North Atlantic community, but we are also actively striving to promote and preserve peace throughout the world.” That remains the collective aspiration of the members of the NATO Alliance.
Turkey joined the Alliance in 1952, enhancing our collective security. Since then, NATO has played a central role in Turkey’s security and contributed to its integration with the Euro-Atlantic community. Turkey, in return, has been firmly committed and aligned with the founding principles of the Euro-Atlantic alliance, as well as its current commitments and priorities.
For decades, NATO Allies stopped the expansion of communist dictatorships in Europe and ensured that the kinds of horrors we saw in World War II would never again strike our nations. After the Cold War, the Alliance adapted to new circumstances, establishing partnerships with former Cold War adversaries and responding to conflict in the Balkans. Turkey played pivotal roles in all these campaigns.
The Cold War is over, but NATO remains as relevant today as it was in 1949, as new challenges combine with old ones to create an increasingly competitive and uncertain geopolitical environment. Instead of working with us to address new challenges, Russia is demonstrating aggression that once again threatens to erode the prosperity, stability, and peace we have built over the last 70 years. Russia remains the greatest threat to the sovereignty and independence of individual European nation-states, and to the shared values that bind the West together.
But Russia is not the only international threat NATO members face. An increasingly assertive China is aggressively seeking to build economic and political influence in Europe in order to subvert European and transatlantic unity and to rewrite international norms and standards. We also cannot ignore the challenges posed by nations like Iran and North Korea, both of which have unpredictable leaders and nuclear ambitions. And while the crisis in Syria has not been met with official NATO support, it is NATO members like Turkey that have played an essential role in the defeat of the ISIL physical caliphate and support to millions of refugees.
In the face of these challenges, the United States remains steadfast in its commitment to all our Allies. When President Trump spoke in Warsaw in 2017, he declared unequivocally, “Americans know that a strong Alliance of free, sovereign, and independent nations is the best defense for our freedoms and for our interests.” That commitment to the collective defense of our shared values and NATO member states’ sovereignty is why Allies decided in 2014 to increase investments in our national defense. We committed to spend at least two percent of GDP on defense and to invest at least 20 percent of that spending on major equipment by 2024. We welcome Turkey’s active efforts to meet these commitments.
As we increase national defense investments, together we will help NATO ensure our armies, navies, and air forces are trained, equipped, and postured ready to go when called upon in crisis or in conflict, against any threat. We will strengthen NATO’s ability to address hybrid threats. We will also ensure NATO can marshal its resources to support our partners to fight terrorism, build stability in crisis-prone areas, and reduce the likelihood of terrorist attacks on Allied territory.
NATO is an alliance of nations that have banded together because, in the words of the NATO charter, “they are determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law.” Since its founding, NATO has stayed true to its founding ideals and our door has remained open to new members who share our values and are committed to contributing to our collective defense. In 2019, NATO prepares to welcome North Macedonia to become NATO’s 30th Ally.
NATO Allies are committed to our collective defense and the preservation of our freedoms. Together, we will be stronger and better equipped to ensure NATO remains the safeguard of peace and prosperity for another 70 years – and beyond – whatever the threat.
* Jeffrey M. Hovenier is the Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. embassy in Ankara
https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-threat-rises-to-natos-agenda-11554225508
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China Threat Rises to NATO’s Agenda
Ministers meeting in Washington are set to discuss perceived security challenges from Beijing
By
James Marson
Updated April 2, 2019 4:21 p.m. ET
BRUSSELS—The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is putting new attention on potential security threats from China, a challenge for an alliance whose members have conflicting attitudes about Beijing.
https://in.reuters.com/article/usa-...ng-threats-including-from-china-idINKCN1RG1KJ
Pompeo urges NATO allies to adapt to new threats from Russia, China
Lesley Wroughton, David Brunnstrom
4 Min Read
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday called on NATO allies to adapt to confront a wide variety of emerging threats, including Russia’s increased aggression, Chinese strategic competition and uncontrolled migration.
Pompeo made the call at the start of a meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organization foreign ministers in Washington marking the 70th anniversary of the transatlantic military alliance.
“We must adapt our alliance to confront emerging threats ... whether that’s Russian aggression, uncontrolled migration, cyber attacks, threats to energy security, Chinese strategic competition, including technology and 5G, and many other issues,” Pompeo said.
In a 2018 strategy document, the U.S. military put countering China and Russia at the heart of a new national defense strategy.
The meeting’s first session focused on ways to deter Russia, including in the Black Sea where it seized three Ukrainian naval vessels last year.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg called on Moscow to release the ships and their crews.
He said Russia’s breach of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was part of a “pattern of destabilizing behavior.”
Washington has said it will withdraw from the treaty this summer unless Moscow ends its alleged violations of the pact, which rid Europe of land-based nuclear missiles.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg begins a plenary meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NATO) Foreign Ministers' Session at the State Department in Washington, U.S., April 4, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
“We will not mirror what Russia is doing,” said Stoltenberg. “We will be measured and coordinated, and we have no intention of deploying ground-launched nuclear missiles in Europe.”
In his remarks, Pompeo said NATO should also confront increased cyber warfare, including from China.
Washington has warned it will not partner with countries that adopt China’s Huawei Technologies systems, but has been at odds on the issue with the European Union, which has shunned U.S. calls to ban the company across the bloc. The bulk of NATO members are EU countries.
Huawei is under scrutiny from Western intelligence agencies for its perceived ties to China’s government and the possibility its equipment could be used for espionage. Huawei has repeatedly denied engaging in intelligence work for any government.
The United States has also been at odds with European countries over the failure of many of them to meet NATO defense spending guidelines of 2% of GDP.
Stoltenberg told reporters that NATO allies should commit to increased defense spending to improve burden-sharing in NATO.
“All NATO allies made a pledge to invest more in defense to improve burden sharing in our alliance, and I expect all allies, including Germany, of course, to make good on the pledge we made together,” the NATO secretary general said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called on NATO countries to pay even more than 2% of their gross domestic product for defense. He told NATO leaders last year to increase defense spending to 4% of GDP. He said the United States pays 4.3% of its GDP to NATO.
Trump has singled out Germany for not doing enough.
Stoltenberg said Germany was now making progress, but all allies needed to do more.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu greets U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Foreign Ministers at the State Department in Washington, U.S., April 4, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
“We didn’t make this pledge to please the United States. We made it because we live in a more unpredictable and uncertain world,” Stoltenberg said.
The NATO chief said disagreement between NATO members Turkey and the United States over Turkey’s plan to buy S-400 missile defense systems from Russia was not part of the formal agenda of the Washington meeting, but would be discussed on the margins.
The United States has halted delivery of equipment related to its advanced F-35 fighter jets to Turkey over its S-400 plans.
The United States says Turkey’s purchase of the Russian air defense system would compromise the security of F-35 aircraft, which is built by Lockheed Martin Corp and uses stealth technology.
Reporting by Lesley Wroughton and David Brunnstrom; editing by Jonathan Oatis and James Dalgleish
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