defenseuptodate.com – Maybe now there is a lot of news about NATO due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. This is due to Ukraine’s desire to join NATO, and this is not approved by Russia. But do you know what NATO is, Why NATO was formed, and what NATO list of countries are members?.
What is NATO?
NATO (“The North Atlantic Treaty Organization”) in English or (“Organisation du traité de l’Atlantique nord, OTAN“) in French, is a Defense and Security Organization in the North Atlantic Region which is the result of long negotiations from 12 countries namely United States of America, France, Canada, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Iceland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, and Portugal signed to the treaty in Washington, DC United States of America on April 4, 1949. The organization has its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Until this post was published in May 2022, Jens Stoltenberg was still the Secretary-General of NATO. After being formed, NATO began to strengthen its existence by conducting joint military exercises and other important meetings to talk about NATO’s future agenda. NATO has another name, “the North Atlantic Alliance.”
NATO Flag is created 3 years after it was founded. Specifically in October 14, 1953. The Major Color of the NATO Flag is dark blue, with using Compass Rose as the Emblem. NATO also added four white lines for its flag.
Why NATO was Formed?
NATO was originally formed to suppress the influence of the Warsaw Pact from the Uni Soviet and Alliances during the cold war era who wanted to spread communism in the North Atlantic Region.
This also caused the situation in the east block and west block to become unfavorable. From 1947-to 1948, The Uni Soviet and the Alliances disturbed the security, economic and political stability due to the expansion of many NATO countries in Europe. After this incident, many military organizations emerged. One of them is NATO; this organization was originally formed to overcome tensions between the eastern and western blocs. The basis for the formation of NATO was originally laid down by Britain and France through the Dunkirk agreement in 1947.
History of NATO
NATO was formed after World War II ended, the position of Secretary-General was established in 1952, and West Germany was allowed to re-form its military to become a member of NATO in May 1955. In 1982 Spain was appointed a member of NATO. In 1989, NATO carried out an evaluation of the basics as a result of the Revolution in Europe that year. And in 1991, the breakup of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the Warsaw Pact made NATO gets euphoric, so NATO began to reduce its military strength in Europe until 2015.
NATO Mission
NATO has a mission to create a peaceful situation in the North Atlantic Region, stem the influence of communism in European and North American countries, and participate in creating world peace. NATO has the principle of respecting the freedom of member countries in implementing the system and making decisions. In other words, NATO has the basic principle of “Democracy.” NATO also always strengthens the solidarity of member countries by carrying out several routine agendas to increase military and defense capabilities.
Based on NATO Article 5, the article explains the obligations of NATO member countries to help countries that are hit by a military attack by considering that an attack on a member country is a joint attack, especially against the United States, which is considered to have the strongest military power in the world today. With this organization, NATO will give political, security, and economic stability in various parts of the world, especially in the North Atlantic Region.
How Many NATO countries
The number of NATO members until May 12, 2022, is 30 countries consisting of 27 NATO countries in Europe, 1 Eurasian country, and 2 North American countries. NATO also has partner countries or (non-members) that cooperate with NATO, namely Afghanistan, Australia, Japan, Iraq, South Korea, Colombia, Pakistan, Mongolia, and New Zealand. Now we are getting the news that Sweden and Finland will join NATO at the end of May 2022 after receiving assurances from the United States.
Since NATO was founded, for the first, NATO only had 12 countries, and it has grown up to 30 countries. On the list, North Macedonia became the last NATO member in 2020.