Important Covenants Of The Nato Pact: All That You Need To Know

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was established in response to the threat posed by the Soviet Union during the post-World War II period.
• NATO is an international military alliance, the member states of which have agreed to mutually defend all the member states in case of any external harm or attack.
• Defence and military issues are related to the commitment arising from Article 3 of the Washington Treaty.
• Article 5 of the treaty talks about collective defence of the member states. This is also recognized by Article 51 of the UN Charter.
• Article 10 of the Washington Treaty speaks about NATO membership and further imposes geographical restrictions on future NATO members. However, there also persists some other conditions for states aspiring for NATO membership.
• Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
• Today, the Russia-Ukraine war has entered its 12th day, and the UN has estimated that it has already claimed the lives of 227 civilians. The second round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are being held on the Poland-Belarus border.
• Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is seeking "direct talks" with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and feels that might be the "only way" to end the ongoing war.
• Sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU, US, UK and countries such as Australia, Germany, Canada, Japan, Taiwan whereas South Africa, Brazil and Mexico have refused to sanction Russia.

INTRODUCTION

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was first established by the United States of America along with other states after World War II in the year 1949 for protecting the Western European nations and providing collective security against a potential invasion by the USSR. NATO is an international military alliance, the 30 member states have agreed to mutually defend all the member states in case of any external harm or attack. It was created to maintain a balance of power between the Soviet states and the Western Europe.

When the USSR tried to expand its influence in Europe through the spread of its ideology of communism, while the US saw the ideology of the USSR as a threat to its way of life. That was when the need to form NATO was felt by the U.S.

The current discourse regarding the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is a result of refusal from NATO to a demand made by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin to NATO, for putting an end to its expansion in the Eastern European countries such as Ukraine, Moldova, etc.

BACKGROUND

After the end of World War II, Western European states suffered massively in the economic sector and the United States of America helped them a lot to recover from these damages and losses in the industries, food production and rebuilding of the destroyed landscapes during the war through investments and establishing markets for American goods for which, George Marshall, the Secretary of State initiated a huge economic aid to Europe, called the Marshall Plan. Since the Soviet Union refused to be a part of the Marshall Plan, it widened the gap between east and west Europe.

During 1947-1948, the American President, Harry S Truman asserted that the U.S. would provide economic and military assistance to any nation struggling against subjugation.

Other than America’s involvement in NATO, events in Germany like the Berlin Crisis brought the United States and the Soviet Union to the verge of conflict and caused U.S. officials to grow increasingly wary of the possibility that the countries of Western Europe might deal with their security concerns by negotiating with the USSR and it was to counter this possibility of turning of events, that the Truman Administration considered the possibility of forming a European-American alliance that would commit the United States to strengthen and support the security of the Western European states.

After President Truman proposed the Mutual Defence Assistance Program which was a military assistance program, appropriating around $1.4 billion dollars for the purpose of building Western European defences, the Korean war occurred and the attack on South Korea by North Korea was viewed as an effort of communist aggression by Moscow.

During the 1950s, one of the first military doctrines of NATO came up in the form of “massive retaliation,” or the idea that if any member was attacked, the United States would respond with a large-scale nuclear attack. The threat of the United States responding with a large-scale nuclear attack was supposed to serve as a deterrent against Soviet aggression in the continent.

France believed that NATO was primarily dominated by the U.S. and withdrew from the military command structure of NATO during July 1966 but continued to maintain a binding relationship with NATO’s military staff, and sit in the council, as well as to maintain and deploy ground forces in West Germany, though it did so under new bilateral agreements with the West Germans rather than under NATO jurisdiction. In the year 2009, France rejoined the military command structure of NATO.

During 2021, tensions between Russia and NATO also arose when satellite images reflected Russia building up forces near the Ukraine border. Although the Russian government had claimed that their forces were conducting a military exercise in the region, NATO allies had remained vary of the claim.

FURTHER DETAILS

Article 1of the NATO Pact discusses peaceful settlement of any international dispute in which they may be involved to be conducted in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered, and refraining in their international relations to threaten or use force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the UN.

Article 2 encourages the members to contribute to the development of peaceful and friendly international relations through strengthening their free institutions, by bringing about a better understanding of the principles upon which these institutions are founded, and by promoting conditions of stability and well-being. They will seek to eliminate conflict in their international economic policies and encourage economic collaboration between the member states.

Defence and military issues are related to the commitment of each member country contributing to collective defence and to improving their own defence capabilities. The nature of this commitment arises from Article 3 of the Washington Treaty, wherein each member state is

responsible for their own defence individually and thereafter collectively.

Besides collectively defending the member states, NATO also serves as a place for discussion about political and military issues or threats under Article 4. Article 4 allows each member state to consult with its partners mainly about the political issues. Bátor has argued that Article 4 “gives NATO its political dimension and also because of this principle NATO is characterised as a political-military organisation.

Article 5of the NATO states “an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all; and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.” This however, excludes conflicts in the colonial territories.

Article 6 mentions what is included inan armed attack on the member states.The treaty covers only member states' territories in Europe and North America, Turkey and islands in the North Atlantic north of the Tropic of Cancer, and French Algeria.

Article 7of the pact says that the member states which are members of the United Nations shall not dishonour the commitments and obligations to the United Nations.

Article 8regulates the relationship between the obligations of the Parties under the Treaty and other obligations of the Allied Nations.

Article 9establishes a Council, on which each of the member states shall be represented, to consider matters concerning the implementation of the Treaty. The Council is expected to be so organised as to be able to meet promptly at any time. The Council shall set up such subsidiary bodies as may be necessary; and in particular establish immediately a defence committee which would recommend measures for the implementation of Articles 3 and 5.

Article 10 of the Washington Treaty answers the question of who can be or who cannot be NATO member, it says that the member states by unanimous agreement, invite any other European State in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area to accede to this Treaty. Therefore, the Washington Treaty set up geographical limitations for the future members of NATO.

However, there also persists other conditions for states which are seeking NATO membership.

Democratic principles are important for NATO members as well as for the future members of NATO.

Since the NATO ground forces were smaller in comparison to the Warsaw Pact, the balance of power was maintained by superior weaponry, which included intermediate-range nuclear weapons which the NATO withdrew after Warsaw Pact’s dissolution and tried to transform the aim of NATO.

THE CURRENT SCENARIO

The former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych had been trying to make Ukraine a part of NATO since he was elected in 2010, but couldn’t move ahead with this plan to remain non-aligned. However, he fled the country in February 2014 amid Russian aggression and national unrest.

Since then, Ukrainian leaders have continuously tried to make NATO membership a priority.

NATO had rejected Russia's demand for a new security settlement in Europe, challenging Russia to withdraw troops deployed near Ukraine and join talks on reducing the threat of open conflict. As for the US and EU, Ukraine acts as a significant buffer with Russia. Ukraine also built a naval base in Ochakiv and another in Berdyansk, which posed a threat to Russia in a way.

Recently, Sweden and Finland had also signalled their consideration of joining NATO. This announcement faced a harsh response from Russia which threatened military and political consequences if that was to happen. However, both the countries didn’t take this warning seriously.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and Russia had discussed the ongoing situation in Ukraine and its implications for security in Europe at the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) in Brussels. However, there was no clear conclusion to these talks between the representatives of NATO and Russia.

It was in the early morning of February 24, 2022 when Russia launched a full-scale military assault on Ukraine, and bombed major cities such as Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Odesa and invaded from Russia, Belarus, Crimea, and the Black Sea after which there were troop buildups, Russian ultimatums to the United States and NATO, negotiations with the U.S. and European leaders, and U.S. warnings of Russian invasion plans, which was preceded by Moscow’s recognition of two separatist enclaves in eastern Ukraine as independent.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg announced on 25th February, 2022 that the alliance will deploy its rapid response force to bolster Ukraine defences. In addition to this, several members such as France and Germany have actively supported Ukraine and sent arms and ammunition to Ukraine.

The Italian left-wingers have protested against NATO and feel that the US and EU are responsible for the crisis and demand peace over the current situation. Italy has good economic connections with Russia and has been criticised by global leaders for failing to agree to isolate Russia from using the SWIFT payment system which is a network that allows international financial transactions.

Since February 24, 2022 when the war began, there has been no breakthrough to this crisis.

Casualties have been reported from both sides. We have come across shocking and upsetting visuals and news of bombings,children sleeping and hiding and women giving birth under the basement of various establishments likes hospitals.

CONCLUSION

Although formed in response to the demands of the developing Cold War, NATO has lasted beyond the end of that conflict, with membership even expanding to include some former Soviet states. It is the largest peacetime military alliance in the world today. The member states of NATO have increased from 12 to 30 today.

Through the actions of Russia, it seems that Putin wants to rebuild Russia’s influence in the eastern Europe while also demonstrating or proving to the US that Russia is still a superpower.

A viable option for the current situation could be revining the Minsk peace process, thus the West should focus on resuming talks and abiding by their commitments in the Minsk peace process and the US should seek and OSCE mediated process to prevent the damage to the human lives and the destruction that is currently taking place due to the ongoing war.