Letters to the Editor: Nato has little to do with peace

A round table in the NATO headquarters in Brussels. Picture: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP

Nato was founded in 1949 to counter the perceived threat posed by the then Soviet Union. It has no raison d’etre since the Warsaw Pact was dissolved in 1991. Assurances were also made to Gorbachev at that time that Nato would not enlarge.

In that light, the war in Ukraine was not unprovoked; Nato has expanded in the meantime by adding 16 countries right up to Russia’s borders, and is now seeking to expand into the southern Caucasus also, thereby posing what Russia considers a fundamental threat to its security. Indeed the ongoing Nato summit has committed itself to “bring Ukraine closer to the Alliance”. Nato is guided by a militarized response to threat.