Diplomacy and International Politics

As NATO marks its 70th anniversary this week, this unique, often unwieldy, 29-member alliance is confronting one of the most difficult sets of challenges in its history.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg visits Washington this week as the military alliance marks its 70th anniversary. He'll have face to face meeting with one of the defense pact's biggest critics, President Donald Trump

Maintaining U.S. leadership in the NATO Alliance and sustaining the critical relationship between the U.S. and the European Union will continue to be among the most vital strategic aims of the United States in the decade ahead. Both of our political parties and the great majority of Americans in recent public opinion polls support a continuation of American leadership in NATO. We should also continue to view the over 500 million people who live in the European Union as our allies, friends and economic partners.

In defiance of President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday invited NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to address a joint meeting of Congress to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the trans-Atlantic alliance.

Brexit with a deal. Brexit without a deal. No Brexit. Those are the only possible destinations on the United Kingdom’s torturous journey toward determining its future relationship with the European Union. An extension, election, or second referendum would simply be a detour on the road toward one of those endpoints.

For years outside observers of Venezuela have followed the disastrous developments in the country under the leadership of Chavez and his successor Maduro with growing concern: the steep decline of the economy, growing violence and repression of human rights, the catastrophic living conditions of people without food or health care and the flight of 3 million Venezuelans into neighboring countries. The geopolitical implications of a growing influence of and indebtedness to China and Russia in addition to Cuba’s role in upholding the repressive regime created additional worries to Western governments. But reluctance to violate the principle of non-interference – always a particularly sensitive issue in Latin America – allowed the Venezuelan situation to deteriorate uninhibited over a long period.

Sensing that NATO’s role as an enduring multinational defense alliance may be slipping toward “crisis,” two Harvard affiliates and former U.S. ambassadors to NATO, Nicholas Burns and Douglas Lute, say they want to “ring the alarm” about the difficulties they believe pose a grave danger to NATO at a time when the public also seems to be underestimating its importance.