The One Where We Talk About NATO at a Party

You’re making the rounds at a party when someone asks you about NATO. Is it still important? The alliance is credited with preventing a third world war, but a lot of us don’t know what it is or how it works. This episode takes a look at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from the ground up, paired best with a cold drink.

Play Button Pause Button
0:00 0:00
x
Host
  • Gabrielle Sierra
    Director, Podcasting
Credits

Asher Ross - Supervising Producer

Markus Zakaria - Audio Producer and Sound Designer

Rafaela Siewert - Associate Podcast Producer

Episode Guests
  • Charles A. Kupchan
    Senior Fellow
  • Alina Polyakova
    President and CEO, Center for European Policy Analysis

Show Notes

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is credited with bringing a peaceful end to the Cold War and preventing conflict in the seven decades since its founding. At the core of the alliance is its collective defense provision, Article V, which stipulates that an attack on any of its twenty-nine members is tantamount to an attack on all.

 

But in recent years, criticism has mounted that member states are getting a free ride at the United States’ expense—enjoying NATO’s security umbrella without contributing enough to its maintenance. In this episode, experts Charles Kupchan and Alina Polyakova layout NATO’s history, its current role, and the danger of forgetting why it was created in the first place.

 

From CFR

 

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization,” Jonathan Masters

 

Does NATO Still Matter?,” Council on Foreign Relations

 

Seven Decades of NATO,” James M. Lindsay, Corey Cooper, and Elizabeth Lordi

 

Ukraine: Conflict at the Crossroads of Europe and Russia,” Jonathan Masters

 

Read More

 

NATO’s website

 

Trump Warns NATO Allies to Spend More on Defense, or Else,” New York Times

 

Trump’s reported desire to leave NATO is a belated Christmas present for Putin,” NBC News

 

Trump keeps criticizing NATO allies over spending. Here’s how NATO’s budget actually works.,” Business Insider

 

Trump administration to cut its financial contribution to NATO,” CNN

 

Watch or Listen

 

The birth of NATO,” NATO

 

The Russians Are Coming: NATO’s Frontier,” Vice News

 

NATO’s increasing close calls with Russia,” CNN

 

Europe’s frontline: the Latvians caught in Russia and Nato’s Baltic war games,” Guardian

 

Nato summit: The rifts behind its 70th birthday bash,” BBC

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Scenes from the Israel-Hamas war have reverberated across the world. In the United States, debate about the conflict has intensified, and it has resurfaced long-standing questions about policy toward Israel and the Palestinian territories. What is the U.S. goal for the region? And how is the United States responding to the war?

Trade

International trade has shaped the world for much of the past century. Countries benefited from the global flow of goods, and the world became richer and safer. At the same time, many Americans lost their jobs to cheaper overseas competitors. Now, a series of compounding challenges, including great power competition and climate change, have led U.S. officials to rethink trade policy. What's next for international trade? And can the United States retain the benefits of trade while protecting critical supply chains and fighting climate change?

Drug Policy

Over the past few years, a new threat has emerged as a leading cause of death in the United States: fentanyl. Yet even as the drug wreaks havoc on Americans lives, preventing its flow into the United States is complicated, partially because of the supply’s overseas origins, which is often China. What is China’s role in the U.S. fentanyl crisis?

Top Stories on CFR

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Steven Cook, the Eni Enrico Mattei senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at CFR, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the collapse of the temporary ceasefire in Gaza and the future of the conflict between Israel and Hamas

Budget, Debt, and Deficits

After years of steadily increasing debt, federal spending has skyrocketed, taking U.S. debt to levels not seen since World War II.   

United States

Committed global action at every level of government, the economy, and society is needed to tackle such a complex, multifaceted challenge, and a growing awareness that time is running out should help to foster it at the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai. But the real test will come after, when promises must be kept.