NATO

NATO  12/13/09  ·   The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an alliance of 26 countries from North America and Europe committed to fulfilling the goals of the North Atlantic Treaty signed on 4 April 1949. In accordance with the Treaty, the fundamental role of NATO is to safeguard the freedom and security of its member countries by political and military means. NATO is playing an increasingly important role in crisis management and peacekeeping.  ·   NATO has added new members six times since first forming in 1949. NATO comprises twenty-six members: [|Belgium], [|Bulgaria] , [|Canada] , the [|Czech Republic] , [|Denmark] , [|Estonia] , [|France] , [|Germany] , [|Greece] , [|Hungary] , [|Iceland] , [|Italy] , [|Latvia] , [|Lithuania] , [|Luxembourg] , the [|Netherlands] , [|Norway] , [|Poland] , [|Portugal] , [|Romania] , [|Slovakia] , [|Slovenia] , [|Spain] , [|Turkey] , the [|United Kingdom] , and the [|United States]. ·  The incorporation of [|West Germany] into the organization on [|9 May] [|1955] was described as "a decisive turning point in the history of our continent" by [|Halvard Lange], Foreign Minister of Norway at the time. [|[12]] A major reason for Germany's entry into the alliance was that without German manpower, it would have been impossible to field enough conventional forces to resist a Soviet invasion. [|[13]] Indeed, one of its immediate results was the creation of the [|Warsaw Pact], signed on [|14 May] [|1955] by the Soviet Union, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, and East Germany, as a formal response to this event, thereby delineating the two opposing sides of the [|Cold War]. ·  In August 2003, NATO commenced its first mission ever outside Europe when it assumed control over [|International Security Assistance Force] (ISAF) in [|Afghanistan]. ·  The [|September 11 attacks] caused NATO to invoke Article 5 of the NATO Charter for the first time in its history. The Article says that an attack on any member shall be considered to be an attack on all. The invocation was confirmed on [|4 October] [|2001] when NATO determined that the attacks were indeed eligible under the terms of the North Atlantic Treaty. [|[20]] The eight official actions taken by NATO in response to the attacks included: [|Operation Eagle Assist] and [|Operation Active Endeavour]. Operation Active Endeavour is a naval operation in the Mediterranean Sea and is designed to prevent the movement of terrorists or weapons of mass destruction as well as to enhance the security of shipping in general. It began on October 4, 2001.  ·   In April 2007, NATO's European allies called for a NATO missile defense system which would complement the American [|National Missile Defense] system to protect Europe from missile attacks and NATO's decision-making North Atlantic Council held consultations on missile defense in the first meeting on the topic at such a senior level. [|[28]]  ·   In response, the then Russian president [|Vladimir Putin] claimed that such a deployment could lead to a new arms race and could enhance the likelihood of mutual destruction. He also suggested that his country would freeze its compliance with the 1990 [|Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe] (CFE)—which limits military deployments across the continent—until all NATO countries had ratified the [|adapted CFE treaty]. [|[29]]  ·   Cooperation with non-member stats ·  A double framework has been established to help further co-operation between the 26 NATO members and 24 "partner countries". ·  The Partnership for Peace (PfP) program was established in 1994 and is based on individual bilateral relations between each partner country and NATO: each country may choose the extent of its participation. The PfP program is considered the operational wing of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership. ·  The 24 partner countries are the following: ·  [|Commonwealth of Independent States]  : ·    [|Armenia] ,  [|Azerbaijan]  ,  [|Belarus]  ,  [|Kazakhstan]  ,  [|Kyrgyzstan]  ,  [|Moldova]  ,  [|Russia]  ,  [|Tajikistan]  ,  [|Turkmenistan]  ,  [|Uzbekistan] ·  Countries that (though militarily neutral) possessed capitalist economies during the Cold War: Austria, Finland, Ireland, Malta, Sweden, Switzerland. Other nationss that possessed socialist economies during the Cold War: <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-underline: none;">[|Albania],  <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-underline: none;">[|Bosnia and Herzegovina]  (as part of Yugoslavia) ,  <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-underline: none;">[|Croatia]  (as part of Yugoslavia) ,  <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-underline: none;">[|Montenegro]  (as part of Yugoslavia),  <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-underline: none;">[|Serbia]  (as part of Yugoslavia),  <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-underline: none;">[|Slovenia]  (as part of Yugoslavia) ,  <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-underline: none;">[|FYROM]  (as part of Yugoslavia),  <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-underline: none;">[|Georgia]  (as part of Soviet Union) ,  <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-underline: none;">[|Ukraine]  (as part of Soviet Union) May join membership action plan in December 2008 ·  All member countries that participate in the military aspect of the Alliance contribute forces and equipment, which together constitute the integrated military structure of the Alliance. These forces and assets remain under national command and control until a time when they are required by NATO a specific purpose (i.e. conflict or crisis, peacekeeping). NATO, however, does possess some common capabilities owned and operated by the Alliance, such as the AWACS early warning radar aircraft. ·  NATO is an intergovernmental organization to which member nations allocate the resources needed to enable it to function on a day-to-day basis. There are three budgets: one civil and two military. Each NATO member country pays an amount into the budgets based on an agreed cost-sharing formula. Taken together, these budgets represent less than half of one percent of the total defence budget expenditures of NATO countries. ·   The two official languages of NATO are English and French.