Do you remember how in 2018, then-US President Donald Trump went against his country's allies and demanded they pledge at least 2% of their economic output to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that is supposed to keep them safe?
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Unless more than five of the military alliance's 30 members start doing this, NATO will be an insignificant force unable to deter potential attackers, Trump explained.
What the American president failed to achieve was inadvertently brought about by Russian President Vladimir Putin by invading Ukraine. Such a slap in the face awoke dozens of European countries, jolting them into action. All of a sudden, they realized they might be targeted next.
Countries that for generations embraced neutrality have come to realize that it will only encourage Putin, so they have no choice, but to be strong, and strong together – for no European country can face the Russian enemy alone.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine on Feb. 24, NATO has gone through a renaissance. The same commentators that were ready to write off the "overly bureaucratic" organization with its many officials have done a 180.
The times no longer allow for the evasion of budgets, and member states have poured more money into NATO than Trump could have ever imagined. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, because the alliance will also have access to each country's national army, whose budgets have also increased.
At the same time, NATO is beginning to address its decision-making pace, especially the implementation part. The decision to establish 300,000 high-readiness NATO troops, which was made at a summit of member states last week, is being implemented already.
By 2023, they will have been deployed in Eastern Europe. Before the war began, philosophical discussions on the necessity of military power alone would have taken decades. Add to that Finland and Sweden's bid to join NATO, which is becoming more relevant than ever.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, NATO emerged as the winner of the Cold War, although the regime's fall presented another challenge – the military alliance now had no real enemy.
About a decade ago, when NATO's pursuits ranged from leading humanitarian aid missions to fighting Somali pirates, many were convinced it had to vacate the stage. Today, it commands the stage.
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