Nearly 4,000 pages. This is the volume of guidelines and defense plans that the Atlantic Alliance claims to have ready to respond to any contingency on its eastern flank. This has been asserted by Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, President of the NATO Military Committee, who emphasizes the capacity for immediate reaction to multiple scenarios of tension with the Russian Federation. The paradox presents itself: the more detail they claim to possess, the more one wonders if anyone would read it in time.
What has NATO said about its response to Russia?
The framework ranges from managing local crises to coordinated response protocols in the event of large-scale armed conflict. Deterrence, in a word. Some disagree with the narrative, arguing that the alliance is better at provocation than taking action when the moment arrives. Others point out that the framing against Russia, China, and Iran is not a new development; it has been forming since 2017.
The 5% GDP and the sharing of the burden among partners
In parallel, the question of who provides the means remains open. Some argue whether Spain, which has not raised its spending to 5% of GDP, will be excluded from the hard core or if it is reserved a privileged partner role. Beneath this lies another layer: a participant recalls that George Kennan, architect of containment and critic of NATO's eastward expansion, maintained that encircleing Russia was a strategic error. His thesis—that the alliance had fulfilled its function with the collapse of the Soviet bloc—continues to fuel skepticism.
With these considerations, the ball remains in the same place as always: with those who pay the bill. How many of those 4,000 pages survive first contact?
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication.
Read the full discussion (25 replies).
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