In my Literacy for Life Current Events classes the last few weeks, I’ve had to spend a lot of time talking about the collective response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. None of my current students are from countries in Europe, where they would have heard about the political, economic, and military organizations that have prevented the emergence of a global conflict since the end of World War II. In doing the research I needed to do to make sure I was conveying the correct information, I have been reminded about how these organizations came to be, how they have worked, and how they are working in response to the current crisis. So I thought I would remind you too.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO):
NATO was founded in 1949 to implement the North Atlantic Treaty. It is a collective security organization (one in which its independent member states agree to mutual defense in response to any external attack) that originally had 12 member countries. The focus of the organization was protection against possible aggression from the USSR, which formed its own defensive organization (The Warsaw Pact) in 1955.
Over the years, NATO expanded to 30 members. Greece and Turkey joined in 1952, and West Germany joined in 1955. During the 1990s, Spain joined and the former Soviet republics in Eastern Europe were included in NATO expansion. By 2020, there were 30 member nations, with three nations on the cusp of membership: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine. Sweden, Finland, and Serbia have all been debating joining NATO.
No military operations were conducted by NATO during the Cold War. Since then NATO has been involved in air operations in a number of Eastern European countries. Article 5 of the Treaty, which activates the mutual defense elements of the treaty, has only been invoked one time in NATO’s history: the 9/11 attacks on the United States led NATO to respond by actions in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Afghanistan in support of United States efforts.
In response to the crisis in Ukraine, NATO has dispatched a Rapid Response Force (up to 40,000 troops) to NATO members that border on Ukraine – from Estonia to Bulgaria – after these nations asked for help at the end of last week. The Rapid Response Force – made up of land, air, maritime, and special operations forces – will be deployed on allied territory. Some NATO countries are supplying arms, ammunition, and other equipment to Ukraine, but NATO as an organization is not. It is not expected to launch any military action in support of Ukraine, which is a close partner but is not a member of NATO.
If NATO as an organization gets involved in military operations, the overall commander of the force is always an American – the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), a United States Flag or General Officer. The current SACEUR is General Tod D. Wolters, a 1982 graduate of the Air Force Academy.
The European Union (EU)
After World War II, European economic cooperation was seen as a key to the recovery of devastated parts of the continent. The mechanism for this cooperation went through several stages – the Common Market and some enlargements of that union – before the 1992 Maastricht Treaty formally established the European Union. The purpose of this union was economic efficiency – the establishment of common production standards, the elimination of trade barriers (like tariffs or customs) among the member nations, and the creation of a common European passport that would facilitate movement of people (workers and businessmen) throughout the member nations.
Beginning in 2002, members of the EU could decide to join an emerging currency union, which replaced national currencies (the Mark, Franc, and Lira, for example) with the Euro, which would be accepted by all member nations.
The population of the European Union now sits at 447 million – larger than the United States,’ population of 300 million. The combined GDP of the European Union member states is $17 trillion, second only to the GDP of the United States, which sits at $20 billion. If the purpose of the European Union was to create an economic force that could compete, both as producers and consumers, with the United States, the EU has met its goals.
Ukraine formally applied to join the EU last week, and the organization appears to be receptive to this appeal. Joining the EU is usually a long, involved process; it took Poland 10 years for its request to be accepted. Ukraine currently has an association agreement with the EU, meaning it has agreed to intensify economic and political ties with the bloc.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU has imposed tough economic sanctions on Russia. The head of the European Parliament, Robert Metsola (from Malta, elected as the Parliament’s president in January), has laid out four goals for the EU in response to Russian aggression:
1. Europe must end its reliance on “Kremlin gas.”
2. Russian oligarchs can no longer "hide behind a veneer of respectability."
3. Europe must invest more in its own defense and security.
4. The EU "must fight the Kremlin's disinformation campaign."
Singling out social media and big tech companies, Metsola said they should take their responsibilities seriously, adding that it's not tenable to insist on neutrality when the choice is "between the fire and the fire brigade."
With the UK’s 2016 vote to leave the EU – dubbed “Brexit” – the unity and strength of this economic entity have been challenged, although all observers agree that the UK has been hurt more by Brexit than the EU has. Following the Brexit referendum, many companies shifted assets, offices, or businesses operations out of Britain and to continental Europe and Ireland. The Brexit vote has cost the economy of the UK 2% of GDP. By the beginning of April 2019, banks had transferred more than US$1 trillion out of Britain, and asset management and insurance companies transferred US$130 billion out of Britain. The UK never joined the eurozone, and the impetus to leave the EU was generated by the same nationalist impulses that drove former President Trump’s “America First” and anti-globalist agenda.
Yeah, good article; I'm only annoyed that there is so much about it that I just don't like, not that you've lied or anything. I would just run the world differently. You know.