Baltic Air Policing detachment Baltic Air Policing detachment/Michal Fludra/ZumaPress
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NATO After Brexit

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded to safeguard the freedom and security of the West during the Cold War. It has adapted to the collapse of the Soviet Union – but can it weather the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union?

AVIGNON – On July 8-9, the 28 heads of state and government of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will meet in Warsaw to address three key objectives: enhancing NATO’s collective defense and deterrence, projecting stability beyond the Alliance’s borders, and expanding cooperation with a crisis-ridden European Union.

That, at least, is how the organization’s deputy secretary-general put the agenda. But brave words about NATO solidarity cannot hide the challenges confronting the world’s most durable military alliance.

One challenge is obvious. How can, or should, NATO respond to the calibrated aggressions – actual and threatened – of Vladimir Putin’s Russia? A less obvious concern is how to stump up the money (only a handful of member states fulfill the official commitment to furnish a defense budget equal to 2% of GDP). And a third challenge is how to respond to the United Kingdom’s decision to exit the EU.

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