Will Form 8865 Treaty 2024

What is NATO and why are the world's most powerful leaders suddenly so worried about it? Well, NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's a political and military alliance between North America and Europe that was born out of World War Two and signed into effect in 1949. Its main aim back then was to push back against any future aggression from the Soviet Union. This became particularly important in 1955 when the Soviet Union and seven other European countries signed the Warsaw Pact. Communism was spreading across eastern and central Europe, and this pact promised military support for Soviet satellite states. There were 12 original NATO member countries. Today, there are 28, and seven of those are former Warsaw Pact countries. Each member of NATO has an equal say in discussions and decisions. One of the most important principles of the NATO treaty is Article 5. It states that an attack on one country is, in theory, an attack against all members. In theory, all troops and equipment in each nation are available for NATO to use. That means there are 3.6 million active personnel and another 3.7 million in reserve. So if it really came down to it, 7.3 million NATO forces could be mobilized. However, Article 5 has been invoked only once in its nearly 70-year history, the day after 9/11, leading to NATO action in Afghanistan. Collectively, NATO member states account for most of the globe's military spending, just under 1 trillion dollars in 2006. In 2015, all 28 member states agreed to spend 2 percent of their GDP for the Alliance's defense spending. However, in reality, that target is rarely met. The median spend in 2015 was just 1.18 percent. The United States spent a whopping 3.7 percent, accounting for around 70 percent of the...