Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia joined NATO today. What is the role of this organization today? It was started in 1949 to counter the SOVIET threat that ended 13 years ago. Who is the enemy of Nato now? Russia does not appreciate the expansion of Nato in it's backyard. I know I wouldn't want to see Canada/Mexico join the Warsaw pact if the roles were reversed. Is the addition of these countries more political symbolism rather than global military strategy?
Wire
Scholar
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2002
- Messages
- 81
Noone says it loud, but Russia is still a threat. Maybe not to Western Europe but certainly to the smaller countries next to it. It will be so until they will begin to recognize other peoples right to decide its ways (which will never happen in my opinion). And remember, Russia is not democratic country, while we Baltics are. So the comparison with Warsaw Pact is not a very good one.
PogoPedant
Muse
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2002
- Messages
- 763
Either way, if everybody's in the same alliance, it's kinda hard starting up a new big war.
Warsaw pact was formed due to the Nato alliance so it is a very relevant comparison. I'm looking at it from an American point of view, and a Russian threat perception, or U.S.A threat perception if the roles were reversed and we lost the cold war and the Soviets were expanding into North America. I don't think we would apreciate it if Russia was at our backdoor. There is still some major distrust/pride issues between the two countries. I would prefer the U.S to engage more, than box Russia into a corner. Today Russia announced they have a weapon that will render our SDI program useless. I think Nato has turned into another international bureaucracy. What's Natos role to be if the EU finally put a military force together?