EDITORIAL : NATO'S RELEVANCY; NO DOUBT THERE WILL BE OTHERS LIKE MILOSEVIC.THE North Atlantic Treaty Organization North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), established under the North Atlantic Treaty (Apr. 4, 1949) by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the United States. , which celebrated its 50th anniversary in Washington over the weekend, enters the 21st century and its second 50 years with a new role. No longer focusing on defensive strategies, NATO's 19 member countries and 23 partner nations are collectively acting as the new world order's SWAT agency - keeping peace first and foremost but using force to put down aggression aggression, a form of behavior characterized by physical or verbal attack. It may appear either appropriate and self-protective, even constructive, as in healthy self-assertiveness, or inappropriate and destructive. when necessary. It's a role that fits it well. It is smaller, stronger and more politically aligned than the United Nations and it can act more swiftly. And at a time when many are questioning the U.N.'s raison d'etre rai·son d'ê·tre n. pl. rai·sons d'être Reason or justification for existing. [French : raison, reason + de, of, for + être, to be. , NATO NATO: see North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO in full North Atlantic Treaty Organization International military alliance created to defend western Europe against a possible Soviet invasion. has firmly established its relevancy. NATO initially was formed to prevent the former Soviet Union from taking over Western European European emanating from or pertaining to Europe. European bat lyssavirus see lyssavirus. European beech tree fagussylvaticus. European blastomycosis see cryptococcosis. nations, and during the Cold War its all-for-one alliance did just that. Now it has transformed into a mobile force that has found a threat in Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic. No doubt there will be others like Milosevic out there who will need to be put down. As NATO marches toward its 100th anniversary, it will face many challenges in Europe and beyond. It should take its role as a policing agency seriously, but it must act cautiously and with as much support outside its members as possible. |
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