The — — began in 1949 with 12 members. In 10 rounds of expansion, many of the former Warsaw Pact nations have joined to benefit from the Treaty’s Article 5, which pledges that each member nation will defend every other. In 10 rounds of expansion, has enlarged itself to 32 members, including Sweden and Norway, which joined this year.
Other nations — Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine and Georgia — are all aspiring to membership. As the website points out, a 1995 study on new membership concludes that any nation that meets five criteria should be able to join. Those criteria are (1) the nation has a democratic political system based on a market economy, (2) it treats minority populations fairly, (3) it is committed to the peaceful resolution of conflicts, (4) it is able and willing to make military contributions to operations and (5) it is committed to democratic civil-military relations and institutional structures.
Those criteria have been violated by the admission of certain members. , for example, has — for those who remember “The Mouse That Roared” — the military capabilities of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick. In its 2008 Bucharest Summit, agreed that Georgia and Ukraine would become members.
As this column has also pointed out, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg unwisely said a few months ago that was trying to agree on an irreversible path to membership for Ukraine. Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who will succeed Mr. Stoltenberg as secretary general in Oc.
