Is NATO up to the challenge? Putin’s war tests alliance’s resolve (C) France24
NATO’s no longer brain dead. Emmanuel Macron who authored that quip back in 2019 can thank Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine for that. But now that it’s back to its original mission of containing Russia, can the Alliance keep up?
Kyiv’s made it clear – if the organization provides the weapons, Ukrainian soldiers will do the fighting. But Ukraine lacks the ammunition and air superiority needed for a quick kill in a counteroffensive that’s up against greater Russian manpower and solid trenches.
For Ukrainians, it’s life or death. But for NATO, is there the same war effort urgency?
We’re talking about an organization founded four years after the end of World War Two, when it quickly became clear that victorious allies were no longer allies but nuclear-armed rivals.
The likes of France and Germany have boosted defense spending by multiples unseen since the Cold War… but are Europeans and Americans ready for the long haul, an industrial-scale war effort over years and deterrence that in a crisis could mean putting soldiers in harm’s way?
Produced by Charles Wente, Josephine Joly and Imen Mellaz.
Our guests
Fran?ois HEISBOURG, Senior Adviser for Europe, International Institute for Strategic Studies & Special adviser, Foundation for Strategic Research
Orysia LUTSEVYCH, Deputy Director of the Russia and Eurasia Programme, Chatham House
Charles ADAMS, Former US Ambassador to Finland
