Operation AXIOM | Atlanticism

Sixty-seven years ago to the day, 4 April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., forming the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, better known by the acronym N.A.T.O. The original twelve signatories were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, & the United States. N.A.T.O. was formed to defend the Western liberal democracies & allied authoritarian regimes against the expansionist ambitions of the Soviet Union.

N.A.T.O. succeeded in this purpose throughout the Cold War, serving as a key component of European peace & integration. Think the last seventy-one years of peace in Europe aren't that impressive? Think about the wars that raged in the heart of Europe seventy-one years from 1878-1949, & you might have to rethink your position. Despite the absurd claims of the odious & staggeringly ignorant Donald Trump that N.A.T.O. has outlasted its mission & thus serves no useful purpose today, the threats of jihadist terrorism—Daesh (I.S.I.S./I.S.I.L.), al-Qaeda, & others—& an again expansionist Russia—this time the post-Soviet Russian Federation—prove that N.A.T.O. is still vital to the peace of Europe & the whole world. The North Atlantic Treaty was signed, 4 April 1949, sixty-seven years ago today.