The most important NATO summit in its 61-year history -- according to NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen -- began Friday in Lisbon, Portugal.
NATO was founded by the United States and 14 other nations after World War II. But it has grown to 28 members, and is now seeking to shed its Cold War identity by adopting a new "strategic concept," framing new threats the alliance faces and the means to combat them. But getting 28 nations on the same page about how to address a range of new evolving threats will not be easy.
The document to be considered this weekend is the product of a set of recommendations from a group of experts led by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The last strategic concept was drafted in 1999. The new document reflects new realities for NATO and the world.
The original NATO existed during the Cold War for the collective defense of 15 nations against Soviet aggression. U.S. Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder likes to call that NATO 1.0.
NATO 2.0 marked the period between the end of the Cold War and the present. This stretch saw NATO enter wars in Bosnia and Kosovo and embrace former Soviet republics in Eastern Europe that were looking West.
Read more:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/11/19/nato.portugal/index.html?hpt=C2
No comments:
Post a Comment