NATO: From Paper Tigers to Defensive Alliance… Someday?
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy walks next to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa, after they gave addresses, on the first day of a NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands June 24, 2025. REUTERS/Yves Herman
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NATO countries urgently need to convene a summit and update their protocols. The current rules are outdated, largely developed during the Cold War, and bear little relevance to the security challenges of the past two decades.
Today, the world needs not only an answer to whether NATO exists on paper and is capable of acting, but also something more fundamental: is this structure capable of change, or is it destined to remain an amorphous relic of the 2000s?
Hybrid threats have become so complex that NATO has failed to respond not only to direct incursions on its territory, but also to a wide range of other dangers — from informational and psychological to political — as vividly illustrated by the recent example of Hungary.
Therefore, if NATO’s nuclear doctrine is not updated in the coming months, the alliance risks collapsing as an entity incapable of defending itself. The question is just as urgent: are NATO countries true allies, ready to fight for one another, or a pseudo-organization uncertain of its ability to respond decisively and effectively?
In this entire scenario, our only real hope lies with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. History is showing, before our eyes, how other supposed guarantors crumble into dust.
Estonia said on Tuesday that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets had entered its airspace without permission and remained there for 12 minutes. The country’s Foreign Ministry has already summoned the Russian chargé d’affaires to protest and hand over a note regarding the incident that occurred on September 19 over the Gulf of Finland.
The agency later clarified that the incursion of Russian MiG-31 fighters into Estonian airspace was deliberate. The country activated NATO’s Article 4 and also protested to the Russian diplomat.
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