Nato countries must band together

The alliance must be ready for any threat, from any direction. It must be ready to defend in space and cyberspace

Seventy years ago, on a spring day in April 1949, the representatives of 12 fiercely independent Western democracies met in Washington DC to found the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. In the course of a single generation, two European wars had claimed the lives of an estimated 125 million civilians and soldiers. The founders of Nato were united in their resolve: such devastation could never be allowed to happen again.

But the threat of another war was not far away. Europe may have been liberated from the Nazis, but the Red Army of the USSR was camped in the heart of Europe and across the East. One country after another fell prey to communist oppression. As Churchill so memorably put it, an “iron curtain” had descended across the continent.

It was clear that the Western powers would have to work collectively to protect their national security, freedom and democracy. Nato was built around the principle of collective self-defence. As the treaty’s Article 5 stated, an attack against one member “shall be considered an attack against them all”.

It was a noble idea but, at the time, nobody was sure if it would last. Yet our alliance has proved to be an extraordinarily powerful deterrent, preventing war for 70 years on Allied soil.

Under Nato’s flag, we emerged safely from the dangers of the Cold War. In 2001, we Americans will never forget how Nato rallied within hours of the devastating 9/11 terror attacks. Article 5 was invoked for the first and only time in Nato history. Shortly after, thousands of Allied troops were in Afghanistan to fight against terrorism side by side with America’s troops.

Persistent threat of global terror groups

With each new challenge, and in each new generation, Nato has adapted, endured and grown stronger. It is a mark of its success that it has expanded to include 29 countries, among them former adversaries from the Cold War period. A billion people now fall under Nato’s protection — a staggering one seventh of the world’s population. It is the greatest alliance the world has ever seen. And it is as necessary today as the day that it was first founded.

Once again, there are serious threats to our individual and collective security. Russian aggression has come back to the fore. We have seen the Russian military, and its proxies, illegally occupy parts of Ukraine and Georgia. We have seen Putin’s Russia target the institutions, information and elections of the West. We have even seen Kremlin-backed assassins using a military-grade nerve agent on British soil — ultimately killing a British citizen and putting many more lives at risk.

Russia is not the only danger. There

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