NATO alliance: the moment of truth?
Leaders meet for a summit viewed as the most crucial since the end of the Cold War.
The NATO military alliance is facing a pivotal moment of truth, 65 years after it was founded.
Leaders have been meeting in Newport in Wales to address an alarming array of new challenges.
The two-day summit addresses Russian aggression in Ukraine and the growing menace of the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, along with declining defence budgets and a fragmented political will.
NATO was founded in part as a response to the threat posed by the Soviet Union and its allies during the Cold War.
Speaking at the summit in Wales, British prime minister David Cameron outlined a three-point plan to take the organisation forward.
He called for a multi-national rapid response force to be restored, a commitment by NATO members to spend two percent of GDP on defence, and a more effective global security network.
But will it mark a defining moment for the military alliance? Or a historic failure?
Presenter: Hazem Sika
Guests:
Kurt Volker – executive director of the McCain Institute for International Leadership, and a former U.S. ambassador to NATO.
Pavel Felgenhauer – a defence and foreign policy analyst.
Ivan Eland – a defence analyst at the Independent Institute.