Rose Gottemoeller says that NATO has proved its worth in dealing with Russia

THIS WAR between Russia and Ukraine shows why the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is the most successful of the international bodies created in the wake of the second world war. As Russian forces built up along Ukraine’s borders in the final months of 2021, the NATO alliance was watchful and active, continuing its exercises and policing the sea and airspace near Russia and Belarus. This was despite the insurrectionist riot at the US Capitol in January, the shambolic withdrawal of alliance forces from Afghanistan in August, and the ravages of the Delta and Omicron variants across Europe and North America. Somehow, NATO kept going quietly about its business.

It has had to go about things unassumingly, because its certain demise has been regularly announced. In recent years, President Emmanuel Macron of France called NATO “braindead” for failing to see the new threats coming at it. President Donald Trump slammed the allies as freeloaders and called into question America’s commitment to defend them. The alliance was in the grip of mortal crisis.