THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION (NATO)

Question 1

When was the Washington treaty signed?

Answer 1

on 4 April 1949

Question 2

What is the main purpose of NATO?

Answer 2

to guarantee the freedom and security of its members through political and military means

Question 3

In what way does the alliance contribute to peace and stability?

Answer 3

through crisis prevention and management, and through partnerships with other organisations and countries across the globe.

Question 4

What is the fundamental guiding principle of NATO?

Answer 4

The principle of collective defence – meaning that an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies

Question 5

What principle is proclaimed in Article 5 of the Washington treaty?

Answer 5

an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all

Question 6

What are the fundamental security tasks NATO performs?

Answer 6

Collective defence, crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security

Question 7

What are the relations between NATO members based on?

Question 8

Who is NATO headed by? What are the main functions of the Secretary General of NATO?

Answer 8

The current NATO Secretary General is Jens Stoltenberg

Secretary General:

1. is the Alliance’s top international civil servant
2. is responsible for steering the process of consultation and decision-making in the Alliance and ensuring that decisions are implemented.
3. is also NATO’s chief spokesperson and the head of the Organization’s International Staff

Question 9

What is the main decision-making body of NATO?

Answer 9

The North Atlantic Council

Question 10

Does NATO have operational forces of its own?

Answer 10

NATO does not have its own military forces. Allies commit troops and equipment on a voluntary basis

Question 11

How could the relations between NATO and Russia be characterized after World War II?

Answer 11

military alliance established in 1949 that sought to create a counterweight to Soviet armies stationed in central and eastern Europe after World War II.

After World War II in 1945, western Europe was economically exhausted and militarily weak (the western Allies had rapidly and drastically reduced their armies at the end of the war), and newly powerful communist parties had arisen in France and Italy. By contrast, the Soviet Union had emerged from the war with its armies dominating all the states of central and eastern Europe, and by 1948 communists under Moscow’s sponsorship had consolidated their control of the governments of those countries and suppressed all noncommunist political activity. What became known as the Iron Curtain, a term popularized by Winston Churchill, had descended over central and eastern Europe. Further, wartime cooperation between the western Allies and the Soviets had completely broken down. Each side was organizing its own sector of occupied Germany, so that two German states would emerge, a democratic one in the west and a communist one in the east.

In 1948 the United States launched the Marshall Plan, which infused massive amounts of economic aid to the countries of western and southern Europe on the condition that they cooperate with each other and engage in joint planning to hasten their mutual recovery. As for military recovery, under the Brussels Treaty of 1948, the United Kingdom, France, and the Low Countries—Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg—concluded a collective-defense agreement called the Western European Union. It was soon recognized, however, that a more formidable alliance would be required to provide an adequate military counterweight to the Soviets.

By this time Britain, Canada, and the United States had already engaged in secret exploratory talks on security arrangements that would serve as an alternative to the United Nations (UN), which was becoming paralyzed by the rapidly emerging Cold War. In March 1948 the three governments began discussions on a multilateral collective-defense scheme that would enhance Western security and promote democratic values. These discussions were eventually joined by France, the Low Countries, and Norway and in April 1949 resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty.

Question 12

What issues are the relations between NATO and Russia focused on?

Answer 12

Cooperation between Russia and NATO focused on several main sectors: terrorism, military cooperation, industrial cooperation, and weapons non-proliferation.

Question 13

What document established the basis for NATO-Russia relations?

Answer 13

In 1994, Russia joined the Partnership for Peace program, and on 27 May 1997, the NATO–Russia Founding Act (NRFA) was signed in Paris NATO Summit in France, enabling the creation of the NATO–Russia Permanent Joint Council (NRPJC)

Question 14

When was NATO-Russia Council founded?

Answer 14

The NATO-Russia Council (NRC) was created on 28 May 2002 during the 2002 NATO Summit in Rome. The NRC was designed to replace the PJC as the official diplomatic tool for handling security issues and joint projects between NATO and Russia

Question 15

What non-military challenges does NATO face today?

Answer 15

disinformation, cyber attacks, economic pressure, deployment of irregular armed groups and use of regular forces

Question 16

What do you know about NATO’s New Strategic Concept for the Defence and Security of the Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 2020?

Answer 16

describes the security environment facing the Alliance, reaffirms its values, and spells out NATO’s key purpose of ensuring collective defence for its Allies. It further sets out NATO’s three core tasks of deterrence and defence; crisis prevention and management; and cooperative security

Question 17

What are NATO’s Core Tasks and Principles according to it?

Answer 17

deterrence and defence; crisis prevention and management; and cooperative security

Question 18

Why is the Security Environment important?

Answer 18

The Alliance seeks to address environmental risks to military activities and to security in general. For example, environmental factors can affect energy supplies to both civilian populations and military operations, making energy security a major topic of concern.

NATO has also helped partner countries clean up ageing and dangerous stockpiles of weapons, ammunition and unexploded remnants of war that pose a risk to people and the environment.

Question 19

What is understood under “Defence and Deterrence”?

Answer 19

Deterrence is the threat of force in order to discourage an opponent from taking an unwelcome action. This can be achieved through the threat of retaliation (deterrence by punishment).

NATO’s deterrence and defence strategy is based on an appropriate mix of nuclear, conventional and missile defence capabilities, complemented by space and cyber capabilities.

Question 20

How is “Security through Crisis Management” implemented?

Answer 20

engage actively with other international actors before, during and after crises to encourage collaborative analysis, planning and conduct of activities in the field, in order to maximize coherence and effectiveness of the overall international effort.

Question 21

What are the alliance plans for cooperation?

Question 22

What are the prospects of NATO in terms of transformation and reform?

Question 23

creation

Answer 23

1) amendments to the U.S. Constitution (Vandenberg Amendment – allowed the United States to conclude military agreements with any country in the world in non-military time)
2) the UN Charter prohibits the creation and entry of states into military and political alliances outside their region;

solution: the creation of the North Atlantic region

Question 24

NATO and Belarus

Answer 24

The history of relations between Belarus and NATO began in 1992, when the country joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council, which was transformed in 1997 into the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council – EAPC.

In 1995, the Republic of Belarus joined the “Partnership for Peace” programme.

Practical interaction between the Republic of Belarus and NATO was suspended on November 19, 2021 at the initiative of the Alliance.