The NATO, or Organization of the Treaty of the North Atlantic, English North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), is a powerful political intergovernmental organization and military c uya mission is to preserve peace, security and freedom of its members through a security system collective.
After World War II, many Western European countries saw the policy of the Soviet Union (USSR) as a threat to stability and peace on the European continent. With this pretext , the North Atlantic Treaty was founded in April 1949, which represents the basis of the existence of NATO, thus considered as a form of collective defense by the countries of Belgium, United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United States.
Later, Greece and Turkey (1952), the Federal Republic of Germany (1955), Spain (1982), Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic (1999), Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (2004), and Croatia and Albania (2009). In 2002, Russia joined NATO, receiving preferential treatment, with voice and vote, but without the right of veto.
In the first years of NATO's existence, special emphasis was placed on mutual military assistance for European members; However, today the members conclude a series of agreements not strictly military in nature.
The North Atlantic Council is the main body and the highest authority of NATO; It is made up of permanent delegates from member countries such as special ambassadors, Ministers of States and even Heads of State, who meet at least twice a year. The council is assisted by a Secretariat, headed by a Secretary General, who is also the President of the Council, and is responsible for general policy, budget plans, and administrative actions.
The temporary committees are in charge of the matters assigned to them by the Council. And to deal with the issues and military functions of the Alliance, there is the Military Committee, which is in charge of advising on military matters, and is composed of the Commanders-in-Chief of each country, under which three main commands operate: the European command, command of the Atlantic Ocean and command of the English Channel.
In 1999 NATO established a New Strategic Concept at the Washington Summit that extends its radius of action outside the territory of its member countries, in cases of serious threats to security and human rights, thus justifying its direct intervention in Kosovo (Yugoslavia), which in those years was in a crisis of war.
In this way, NATO started the 21st century with new functions, such as the fight against genocide, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. During the following years, the organization maintained important military missions in Afghanistan, and is currently initiating interventions in Libya for a UN mandate to protect civilians from the fighting that the Gaddafi government is carrying out against the rebels and their people.
