North Atlantic Treaty Organization celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary during its summit in Washington DC 2024. The NATO Alliance of 32 states, including the most powerful state USA, has pledged to support Ukraine against Russian aggression in the form of an announcement of a $50bn military aid package to Kyiv. Notably, NATO has also made a clear indication of a pivot to the Indo-Pacific where China has been a rising power, especially in terms of economic and military might. Invitations from Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea are marked by shifting focus from Europe to the Indo-Pacific region of NATO, signaling that China will become the next chief target of NATO once it finishes it job in the Ukraine War.

NATO is the brainchild of the Cold War whose primary reasonability was at that time to deter Soviet Union aggression in Western Europe. Under the premises of containment of the Soviet Union, the Truman administration formed a military alliance of NATO on 4 April 1949, which had only 12 members. The most remarkable part of NATO is Article 5 which calls for the collective and mutual defense of the country in the case of aggression, in simpler meaning: an attack on one country is considered an attack on all countries. This made NATO a defensive military alliance. In retaliation of NATO, the Soviet Union formed its military alliance along with eastern European countries in the name of the “Warsaw Pact” on May 14 1955. During the Cold War, there was a clear possibility of a NATO VS WARSAW hot war, however, crisis management and leadership qualities at both ends saved the world from that doomsday scenario.