Summary
NATO’s military strength and unswerving trans-Atlantic solidarity enabled it to contain and ultimately defeat the Soviet Union. But with Vladimir Putin’s Russia resurgent, and eager to restore some of its past glory, people speak of a new “Cold War”. But this one is very different from the first. It is being fought out on the internet; through propaganda; and by shadowy, deniable operations. It is not the kind of struggle that plays to the Alliance’s traditional strengths. Worse still, NATO – currently marking its seventieth anniversary - is more divided than ever; its member states having very different priorities. President Trump has added additional strains, raising a question-mark over Washington’s fundamental commitment to its European partners. So can NATO hold together and adapt to the new challenges it faces or will it sink into a less relevant old age?
Producer: Stuart Hughes Editor: Jasper Corbett
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.6 | My name's Linda Davies and I commission podcast for BBC Sounds. |
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| 0:41.0 | Hello, thanks for listening to this edition of Analysis. podcasts. half hour I'm going to be looking at whether NATO, which this year is marking its 70th anniversary, is fit for the future. |
| 0:57.0 | Next month Alliance Leaders will gather in London for NATO's 70th anniversary summit. |
| 1:07.0 | For its supporters, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is the most successful military alliance in history. Founded in the Cold War to defend Western Europe against the Soviet Union, |
| 1:18.0 | it saw off communism without firing a shot. It expanded to take in new members. It went to war in the Balkans and it embarked |
| 1:27.9 | on so-called out-of-area operations in Afghanistan, way beyond the Alliance's traditional borders. |
| 1:35.0 | But it's now living in a much more complex world. |
| 1:39.0 | One NATO leader, the French President Emmanuel Macron, |
| 1:42.0 | recently described the alliance as strategically brain dead. |
| 1:47.4 | So is its past success any guide to its future performance? |
| 1:52.2 | In this program I'll be asking how much has NATO changed. |
| 1:56.5 | Do all of its members see security challenges in quite the same way? |
| 2:01.8 | And how much more change must there be if NATO is to remain relevant. |
| 2:09.9 | These Canadian soldiers are training here in Latvia in urban warfare. |
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