Joshua Foust: NATO’s Many Challenges
ASP Fellow Joshua Foust has an op-ed for Need to Know on PBS discussing the future of NATO:
NATO has played a hugely important role in the world – first as a bulwark against Soviet aggression in Europe and later in assisting the Eastern bloc transition to more open societies. In the 21st century, NATO has played a huge role in coordinating interventions in Afghanistan and Libya – one reason many protestors took to the streets of Chicago to protest the summit.
In the post-Afghanistan world, however, NATO seems adrift. Its budgets are shrinking – even the U.S. is facing steep defense cuts over the next few years. But NATO’s ambitions are bigger than ever, with new forms of collaborating, a thirst for more “cheap” interventions outside of Europe, and grand ideas of building a missile shield. The lofty goals on display in Chicago are bound to come crashing into the reality of a greatly reduced budget sooner or later. The big question after the summit is: how long can NATO’s self-delusions last?
