NATO’s 60th Anniversary

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Born out of an international need to keep Russia from taking over the entire world, the coalition has since greatly expanded it’s mission to include humanitarian and peacekeeping roles.

The topics on this year’s agenda are expected to focus around two things, the increasing role of NATO members in Afghanistan, and the return of France as a full NATO member. France withdrew from UN led security actions in 1966, and while remaining a member has not sat at the council table for many major NATO arms. In recent years though, France has contributed to many security efforts, including Bosnia.

As for Afghanistan, many of the European nations are going to respond, at best, to US requests for more troops with perfunctory nods and smiles. Many political analysts feel the best way to find common ground for a NATO role in Afghanistan is to begin bringing in non-NATO countries (maybe NATO aspiring countries) to assist with the effort. It is, after all, a ‘world problem’ as some have been heard to say.

Whatever the outcome of this years Summit politically, it’s sure to be an interesting three days on the Rhine. With the main event venue just across the river from the German town of Kehl (the Rhine river separates France and Germany), the German police are expecting large turnouts of protesters (20-25 thousand); with about 5-10% of those expected to become violent. France is taking ’special security precautions’ near the main meeting house, which reportedly includes residents being unable to leave their homes in certain neighborhoods without a police escort. No one is heard to be complaining though, it’s rumored the local Cosco there delivers wine 24 hours a day.