Atlantic Council

• NATO Muddles Through in Chicago
• To Survive, NATO Must Globalize
• Anchoring NATO with Leadership
• The Atlantic Alliance Transformed
• Taliban send message to NATO Summit: Please rush to exit Afghanistan

In the lead-up to today’s negotiations in Baghdad, Iranian officials have labored to insist that they do not need a nuclear agreement with the international community and that their economy can survive more punishment.

Dear Mr. Secretary General Rasmussen,

You and I share at least one thing: a passionate belief in the Atlantic Alliance and the vital role NATO must and will play in the future defense of our peoples and the security and stability of a fractious and dangerous world.

At their Chicago summit, NATO heads of state and government declared that the Alliance had achieved an interim ballistic missile defense (BMD) capability. This political-military project is one the most important achievements in NATO’s post- Cold War history and goes far beyond the technical aspects of a very unique and complex defense system.

Predictions that Egyptians will head to the presidential poll in large numbers on May 23 and 24 are firm and consistent, but forecasts of how they will vote diverge significantly.

A ship is adrift in a foggy sea. The crew are in their bunks, the officers argue about their mortgages, and the captain has left.

The captain has left because the United States no longer believes NATO can contribute significantly against any serious global strategic challenges. An occasional bit player, yes: a partner with the will and capability to contribute significantly, no.

Eli Lake of the Daily Beast reports that Gen. James Mattis, the head of US Central Command, unsuccessfully sought permission to send a third US aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf region in January in an effort to deter Iran from escalating tensions in the Gulf.

The twenty-eight NATO heads of state just met for two days in Chicago and agreed that NATO was a very fine organization, indeed. They then kicked several cans down the road before posing for pictures and having a nice meal.

In conversations with several Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and Muslim Brotherhood activists in Cairo over the last few days, I was struck by two dominant attitudes: A calm confidence that Egypt’s future lies in the Brotherhood’s hands combined with concern that electoral victory might yet slip through their fingers. 

Sixty-three years after the North Atlantic Treaty was signed, binding the United States, Canada, and ten European states to consider an attack on one an attack on all, NATO is transforming itself into a twenty-first-century global security organization. The result will be a safer world. 

The long-term need for stronger political leadership is NATO's most important challenge. The eurozone debt crisis and substantial reductions in defense spending have badly weakened Europe's military capabilities and sapped its ambitions for global leadership. The decline is so severe that former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warned of a "dim, if not dismal" future for NATO.

• The Lost Alliance: NATO in Chicago
• NATO's Ballistic Missile Defense: A Promising Triumph of Prudence
• How Egyptians Will Vote
• The Chinese Join the Aircraft Carrier Club … But Are They Willing to Pay the Dues?
• When Will You Face Strategic Reality, Mr. NATO Secretary General?