NATO back in its comfort zone after the chaos of Afghanistan

BRUSSELS (HRNW) — NATO is right back in its element. As tensions mount with Russia, the world’s biggest military organization is focused on security: defending the territory of its 30 member countries. That involves deterring any attempt to destabilize countries on its eastern flank like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Members of the U.S.-led alliance have diverse interests in their dealings with Russia, and in their dealings with the current focus of President Vladimir Putin’s ire — Ukraine. But NATO is not riven by business, political and energy concerns in the same way the European Union is. It does not do sanctions.

Founded in 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was laser-focused on the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and dealing with Moscow is in its DNA. Indeed, the dispute with Russia over Ukraine is almost a relief after the debacle in Afghanistan, which the Taliban overran after NATO left last year.

NATO takes its decisions unanimously and every country has a veto. So NATO as an organization will not supply arms to Ukraine, even though many of its members are doing to, including the United States, Britain, Turkey and the Baltic countries.