This moment may define our children’s future – POLITICO

That’s the reason, on its seventy fifth anniversary, we reiterate NATO’s founding precept: An assault towards considered one of us is taken into account an assault towards all. One for all and all for one. Collectively, we’ll defend each inch of NATO territory and stand united towards any future Russian aggression.

For years, Putin has unfold lies and false narratives to justify his warfare. One in every of these narratives is that NATO represents a menace to Russia. However the reverse is true: In the present day, nations are once more becoming a member of NATO as a result of they really feel threatened by Russia. Finland and Sweden had lengthy held a proud custom of neutrality. Nonetheless, following Putin’s invasion of a peaceable neighbor, they exercised their sovereign proper to freely select alliances and have now fortified our ranks.

For Europe to be at peace, Russian imperialism should be stopped. We can not permit for any “grey zones” as a result of Putin sees them as an invite to undermine territorial integrity and sovereignty, draw imaginary strains on the map and, in the end, use navy power. His full-scale invasion of Ukraine has additionally confirmed {that a} coverage of concessions vis-à-vis Russia, within the hopes that it might convey peace or stability again to the Continent, is naive.

That is why European allies ought to shoulder their justifiable share of NATO’s collective burden and reveal readiness to take extra accountability for Europe’s protection. The enduring transatlantic bond stays the bedrock of our safety, and we Europeans should deal with a number of the most pressing shortcomings which have develop into painfully apparent through the previous months and years: functionality gaps, the readiness of our forces, manufacturing capability, logistics, standardization and interoperability.

The U.S. has lengthy taken on extra of the burden than the remainder of our Alliance. However collective protection is our collective effort. In that respect, we reaffirm the significance of a stronger and extra succesful European protection — one which contributes positively to world and transatlantic safety and is each complementary to and interoperable with NATO.

To tackle this higher accountability for our joint safety, we European allies ought to take the next steps: