These are the current NATO member countries -- 28 of them.

Albania (2009) Belgium (1949) Bulgaria (2004)
Canada (1949) Croatia (2009) Czech Republic (1999)
Denmark (1949) Estonia (2004) France (1949)
Germany (1955) Greece (1952) Hungary (1999)
Iceland (1949) Italy (1949) Latvia (2004)
Lithuania (2004) Luxembourg (1949) Netherlands (1949)
Norway (1949) Poland (1999) Portugal (1949)
Romania (2004) Slovakia (2004) Slovenia (2004)
Spain (1982) Turkey (1952) The United Kingdom (1949)
The United States (1949)


NATO’s essential purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of its members through political and military means.

POLITICAL - NATO promotes democratic values and encourages consultation and cooperation on defence and security issues to build trust and, in the long run, prevent conflict.

MILITARY - NATO is committed to the peaceful resolution of disputes. If diplomatic efforts fail, it has the military capacity needed to undertake crisis-management operations. These are carried out under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty - NATO’s founding treaty - or under a UN mandate, alone or in cooperation with other countries and international organizations.

The annual summit being held in Wales is beginning shortly.

At the top of the agenda is a united strategy towards Russia for attempting to reset borders with its military action in Ukraine, along with joint strategies for addressing the Islamic State and other terrorist groups in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere.

NATO Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said ahead of the Summit that in order to remain credible NATO must demonstrate it has not lost “the appetite to intervene” when the alliance’s “interests or our obligations” require it to do so. I think he's right.

Lotta people think NATO has become an essentially useless coalition, mostly because it refuses to wield its potential collective power.

I hope something positive comes out of the summit this year -- I can't remember a time when there was so much major shit going down in so many countries at once. Anyone who thought the war on terror had an end date or could be measured by only al-Qaeda's perceived strength at any give time had way too limited a view, IMO.

COVERAGE: NATO summit live updates here: http://rt.com/uk/184944-nato-summit-live-updates/

Some portions of the summit are public and some are closed.

At the end of the last public session...

RUSSIA / UKRAINE:
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance calls on Russia “to step back from confrontation and take the path of peace”.

He said “Ukraine has been an active and reliable partner to NATO over many years” and that “we highly value our partnership”.

“NATO stands with Ukraine” he said, and NATO “support their democratic reforms”.

Rasmussen added NATO “will help build a strong modern army” in Ukraine, and that member states “are determined to make it even stronger today and in the future”.

IRAQ:
It was also noted that Iraq has not officially requested NATO support. In response, the Iraqi President sent this message.

Please let something good come of this. Please. Lately it seems as if the world is falling apart. So many of those people in war torn areas want the same thing I do, to simply live their life in peace.

(09-04-2014, 01:03 PM)Duchess Wrote: Please let something good come of this. Please. Lately it seems as if the world is falling apart. So many of those people in war torn areas want the same thing I do, to simply live their life in peace.

From what I was able to follow, there was a lot of focus on thwarting those who are focused on erasing or resetting existing geographic and political borders; namely the Islamic State and Vladmir Putin.

The NATO member countries agreed to work together to combat IS (and it's said that Middle Eastern countries will also be essential -- obviously).

The NATO member countries agreed that Putin overstepped bounds in riling up Russian-loyalists in eastern Ukraine before and after its annexation of Crimea. The financial sanctions will be increased (IMO, Russia's feeling it now and will feel it more later, despite Putin's claims to the contrary).

There is a fear that Putin is eying the Baltic states, particularly Estonia which has a high volume of Russian-speaking citizens near the border. The Baltics have been asking for increased NATO support against potential Russian aggression for years. Their leadership is adamant about wanting closer ties with the West and not to be part of an old school Soviet bloc. I think Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will get a much a greater show of support moving forward. The situation in the Ukraine this year (hoping the current cease-fire holds) has proven that the Baltics are not just being paranoid, IMO.

NATO MILITARY FORCE

One NATO topic that I'm really interested in is the progress of building CFI. I'm hoping that was addressed last week and there will be some updates when the consolidated summit notes are released.

Having a viable multi-national military force is something that I strongly support. I'd like to see the United States remain a solid leader, but don't like seeing the United States as the country expected to always charge in when there is a foreign threat which impacts many countries and allies across the globe.

Here's the last bit published about CFI earlier this year.

After 2014, NATO is expected to shift its emphasis from operational engagement to operational preparedness. This means NATO will need to remain capable of performing its core tasks - described in its Strategic Concept¹ - and of maintaining its forces at a high level of readiness. To help achieve this, Allied leaders have set out the goal of ‘NATO Forces 2020’: modern, tightly connected forces that are properly equipped, trained, exercised and led. The Connected Forces Initiative (CFI) will help maintain NATO’s readiness and combat effectiveness through expanded education and training, increased exercises and better use of technology.

After the end of the International Security Assistance Force’s (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan, CFI will build on the Alliance’s experience - including lessons learned from 20 years of operations - to ensure that Allies can work even more effectively together and with partners.

The main requirements of CFI are to ensure that Allies can communicate, train and operate together effectively, and that NATO has increasing opportunities to validate and certify their ability to do so. The NATO Response Force will also play an important role in this context by providing a vehicle both to demonstrate operational readiness and serve as a “testbed” for Alliance transformation.

http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_98527.htm