From Xenia Dormandy, New York Times: What are the security challenges NATO members face today and in the coming decades, and do we have sufficient commonalities to harness the interests, will and capacity to address them through NATO?
To this last question the list is long, ranging from conflicts in the Middle East to energy security, cyber espionage and Iran’s nuclear program (many listed in the new strategic concept released in November 2010). Member states have many common interests here, and, as Libya’s Muammar el-Qaddafi found to his detriment, there is will also. While capabilities are diminishing, particularly in the military arena, they are certainly not insignificant. . . .
The problems we face will not be better addressed unilaterally. Alliances are hard to manage, but they are better than facing our challenges alone.
Xenia Dormandy is a senior fellow at Chatham House in London. (photo: Bundeswehr/Bienert)