The editorial answers you | Has NATO had its day?

Do you have questions about our editorials? Questions about hot topics in the news? Each week, the editorial team responds to readers of The Press.

Alexandre Sirois
The Press

The purpose of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)? First, let’s recap, if you will.

Officially, NATO’s objective is to “guarantee the freedom and security of its members by political and military means”.

It is worth remembering, however, that the first Secretary General of NATO used a lapidary formula to explain that the organization, at the base, met three objectives: “Keep the Americans in, the Russians out and the Germans down.” »

Now, has NATO had its day?

For many years, the question has been asked and arouses passions.

Until French President Emmanuel Macron, who in 2019 argued that the organization was in a state of “brain death”.

On the other hand, to paraphrase Mark Twain, rumors about the death of NATO have been greatly exaggerated.

For its members, the organization remains very relevant. Including Canada, a country whose security depends on its alliances.

Starting with the fact that article 5 of the NATO charter provides that if one of the members of the alliance is attacked, the others will defend it.

“We have often written and announced the end of NATO, only to see it rebound,” underlines Charles-Philippe David, full professor of political science at UQAM.

“I am dubious in front of this vision that NATO no longer has its raison d’être,” he adds. If so, why are there still countries that want to join. The list is long, in fact, of those who would not want to leave the alliance and of those who dream of entering it.

Along the same lines, another reader, Richard Smith, asked us “why Russia, which fears NATO enlargement so much, does not join it”.

The fact is that rapprochements with Russia have been attempted in recent decades, explains Charles-Philippe David.

In 2000, shortly after coming to power, Vladimir Putin even said that he did not rule out the possibility of a possible NATO membership.

Not only did that never happen, but following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, NATO suspended “all practical cooperation” with Moscow.

“The problem is really that Putin still lives in the era of the USSR, in the world of spheres of influence. He is afraid of democracy, says Charles-Philippe David. It’s that simple. With Ukraine, NATO is a false debate, in my opinion. The real debate is that Putin does not want 40 million Slavs to live in a democracy on Russia’s doorstep. »