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60 Years On, NATO Faces Identity Crisis

Alliance struggles for meaning after end of Cold War

By Jason Farago, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 3, 2009 6:19 AM CDT

(Newser) – Barack Obama is in Strasbourg for a NATO summit, but on the 60th anniversary of the alliance's founding, its future seems increasingly muddy. Founded on a mutual defense pact against the Soviet Union and its satellite states, NATO now stretches as far as Turkey and provides most of the peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and Kosovo. Yet these days, Time writes, NATO seems to be having an identity crisis.

Its joint defense clause has only been invoked once—after 9/11, when the US laid the groundwork for NATO efforts in Afghanistan. Yet even there, US troops do most of the fighting and classical military success is elusive if not impossible. Without a true common enemy, said one Cambridge professor, "It's entirely unclear what NATO's reason for existence is after 1989."

President Barack Obama meets with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, gestures during a joint press conference with KFOR commander, in Kosovo's capital Pristina, on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

A soldier stands guard after KFOR troops reinforced a United Nations checkpoint recently demolished and burnt by angry Kosovo Serbs on the Serbia-Kosovo border, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008. (AP Photo/Srdjan Ilic)

A painter gives the final touch to a board inside the Congress Center in Strasbourg, eastern France, Wednesday, April 1, 2009. (AP Photo / Remy de la Mauviniere)

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60 Years On, NATO Faces Identity Crisis

Alliance struggles for meaning after end of Cold War

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Panetta: US Combat Role in Afghanistan Over in 2013

But American, NATO troops will still have 'robust' advisory role

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ISI providing direct assistance, says secret NATO report viewed by the BBC

Sarkozy Wants Out of Afghanistan Next Year

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Obama Offers Pakistan Prez 'Condolences' After Strike

Stops short of issuing formal apology

Obama Won't Apologize for Pakistan Strike

Balks against State Dept., says US has apologized enough

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60 Years On, NATO Faces Identity Crisis

Alliance struggles for meaning after end of Cold War

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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

Afghanistan • Barack Obama • NATO • Kosovo • Cold War • NATO summit

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

Panetta: US Combat Role in Afghanistan Over in 2013

But American, NATO troops will still have 'robust' advisory role

Backed By Pakistan, Taliban Set to Retake Afghanistan

ISI providing direct assistance, says secret NATO report viewed by the BBC

Sarkozy Wants Out of Afghanistan Next Year

France will withdraw combat troops by the end of 2013

Obama Offers Pakistan Prez 'Condolences' After Strike

Stops short of issuing formal apology

Obama Won't Apologize for Pakistan Strike

Balks against State Dept., says US has apologized enough

About Us

Site

Newser By Users

Community

Site Maps

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More News

What is Newser?