Category Archives: NATO

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization

10 July 2015 Designation of Tunisia as a Major Non-NATO Ally (State.gov) On May 21, President Obama announced his intent to designate Tunisia as a Major Non-NATO Ally during the visit to Washington of Tunisian President Caid Essebsi. Today, the Administration announced that the designation process is complete, making Tunisia the 16th Major Non-NATO Ally of the United States.

22 June 2015 Defense Secretary Carter Outlines U.S. Support for NATO Task Force U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that the U.S. will provide multiple capabilities to NATO's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, a component of its Response Force, while speaking at a news conference in Munster, Germany.

08 June 2015 Multinational Baltic Defense Exercise Showcases Interoperability The U.S. has joined 16 other NATO and partner nations in a Baltic regional maritime exercise, Baltic Operations 2015 (BALTOPS). BALTOPS is an annual multinational exercise to enhance flexibility, interoperability and demonstrate the resolve of Allied and partner forces to defend the Baltic region.

26 May 2015NATO Secretary General thanks President Obama for strong U.S. leadership NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US President Barack Obama discussed the Alliances response to key security challenges at the White House in Washington D.C. on Tuesday.

26 May 2015 Obama, NATOs Stoltenberg After Their Meeting

13 May 2015 Kerrys Remarks to Press at NATO Ministerial Event in Turkey "[] The United States stands very firmly behind the Wales commitments, with respect to NATO. We believe very strongly in NATOs role, particularly on the southern flank in dealing with Libya, in dealing with some of the problems of migrants."

12 May 2015 U.S. European Command and Georgia Join for Exercise 'Noble Partner' The Defense Department announced today the start of Exercise Noble Partner between U.S. European Command and the Republic of Georgia, which will assist in fulfilling troop commitments to the NATO Response Force.

21 April 2015 United States Welcomes Polish Missile Defense Tender The United States welcomes today's announcement from the Polish Ministry of Defense that Raytheons PATRIOT system has been awarded the Vistula integrated air and missile defense tender.

26 March 2015 State's Blinken at the Atlantic Council's NATO Transformation Seminar 2015 "These principles, that the borders and territorial integrity of a democratic state cannot be changed by force; that is it is the inherent right of citizens in a democracy to make their countrys decisions and determine its future; that linguistic nationalism, something we thought was confined to the dustbin of history, must not be allowed to be resurrected; and that all members of the international community are bound by common rules and should face costs if they dont live up to the solemn commitments they make and I want to pause on this last one for just a second because it resonates particularly and in interesting ways in the context of the Ukraine crisis."

03 March 2015 Leaders Discuss Keeping NATO Strong in Challenging World NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed Slovak President Andrej Kiska to NATO on March 3 for talks on current security challenges.

25 February 2015 NATO Commander on European Security Challenges (via IIPDigital)

06 February 2015 Hagel: NATO Must Continue to Change in Face of New Threats The NATO alliance is transforming to address new threats, and it must continue to do so, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in Brussels.

The NATO symbol and flags of the NATO nations mark the entrance to NATO headquarters in Brussels, site of the June 2014 NATO Foreign Ministerial meeting.

16 December 2014 Secretary-General Tells Ukrainian PM, NATO Stands with You (via IIPDigital)

03 December 2014 NATO Foreign Ministers Announce Interim Spearhead Force NATO foreign ministers announced that an interim Spearhead Force would be operational early in 2015 to improve the alliances readiness, and they agreed to maintain a continuous NATO presence in the eastern part of the alliance through 2015.

02 December 2014 NATO Stands with Ukraine, Increases Support NATO foreign ministers stated their political and practical support for Ukraine as its new government embarks on key reforms. The NATO ministers held talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, who participated in the meeting via video link from Kyiv.

06 November 2014 NATO Chief to Afghans: 'You Will Not Stand Alone' The new head of NATO made an unannounced visit to Kabul on Thursday, telling Afghans that the Western military alliance would continue supporting the country after foreign combat troops withdraw at the end of the year.

06 October 2014 NATO Will Defend Every Ally, Secretary-General Stresses in Poland (via IIPDigital)

08 September 2014 Hagel: U.S. Backs Georgias New NATO Standing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made his first official visit to Georgia on following his participation at the NATO Summit in Wales, meeting with government and military leaders and congratulating the U.S. military partner on its new status as an enhanced NATO partner.

06 September 2014 NATO Wales Summit Declaration "Our Alliance remains an essential source of stability in this unpredictable world. Together as strong democracies, we are united in our commitment to the Washington Treaty and the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. Based on solidarity, Alliance cohesion, and the indivisibility of our security, NATO remains the transatlantic framework for strong collective defence and the essential forum for security consultations and decisions among Allies."

04 September 2014 FACT SHEET: Wales Summit NATOs Changing Role in Afghanistan At the Wales Summit, NATO Allies and partners reaffirmed their intent to conduct a non-combat train, advise, and assist mission in Afghanistan beyond 2014, known as Resolute Support, contingent upon the Afghans signing a Bilateral Security Agreement and a status of forces agreement with NATO.

03 September 2014 President Obama on Defending Baltic Allies Against Russia (IIPDigital)

03 September 2014 Obama Stresses NATO Commitment to Baltics (IIPDigital)

01 September 2014 Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will begin his 16th international trip Includes Wales NATO Summit

28 August 2014 NATO Wales Summit: Family of Nations Committed to Peace, Freedom This blog post by Douglas E. Lute, the U.S. permanent representative to NATO, was originally published on the State Department's blog.

14 August 2014 NATO Head Says It Must Adapt to New Security Challenges NATO must adapt to security challenges such as Russias illegal actions in Ukraine, Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said during a visit to Norway. For the first time since the end of the second world war, one country in Europe has seized the land of another by force, and we have to adapt, Rasmussen said.

05 August 2014 British Prime Minister Joins NATO Heads to Discuss Ukraine British Prime Minister David Cameron joins NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove to discuss the impact of the Ukraine crisis on NATOs collective security.

16 July 2014 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Allied Land Component (LANDCOM) Operational Update

26 June 2014 Foreign Ministers Finalize Plans for NATO Mission in Afghanistan NATO foreign ministers and their counterparts from International Security Assistance Force partner nations met in Brussels to review progress in the ISAF mission, take stock of the ongoing election process and firm up operational plans for the launch of a new NATO-led mission to train, advise and assist the Afghan security forces after 2014. United Kingdom to Host 2014 NATO Summit in Wales Afghanistan Transition Tops 2014 NATO Summit Agenda

25 June 2014 NATO Foreign Ministers Agree Alliance Is Open to New Members NATO foreign ministers have agreed that the Alliances door remains open to new members, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said June 25 at the start of the second day of ministerial talks. Over dinner on June 24, the ministers reviewed the progress made by the four aspirant countries; Georgia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

24 June 2014 NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting to Focus on Ukraine, Afghanistan NATOs support to Ukraine and the implications of Russias actions, the future of its mission in Afghanistan, and preparations for the NATO Summit in Wales top the agenda of a two-day meeting of the alliances 28 foreign ministers in Brussels that starts June 24. A more detailed discussion on the summit will be held on June 25 during the first working session of the North Atlantic Council, according to a June 23 NATO press release.

20 June 2014 Hagel, German Defense Minister Discuss NATO, Security Challenges Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen met June 19 at the Pentagon, reaffirming the two nations strong friendship and alliance, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Admiral John Kirby said in a statement.

18 June 2014 NATO, Partners Mark 20th Anniversary of Partnership for Peace (via IIPDigital) The Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) met June 17 to mark the 20th anniversary of the Partnership for Peace, which has transformed Euro-Atlantic security and NATO itself by erasing dividing lines, inspiring reforms and building peace and security through consultation and cooperation based on common democratic values.

05 June 2014 Hagel Urges European NATO Members to Boost Defense Budgets NATO European allies must dedicate more money to defense spending, and all are ready to do their part in the follow-on operation in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said at NATO headquarters in Brussels on June 4.

03 June 2014 European Reassurance Initiative and Other U.S. Efforts in Support of NATO Allies and Partners Since early March, the United States has taken action, both bilaterally and through NATO, to reassure allies of our solemn commitment to their security and territorial integrity as members of the NATO Alliance. A persistent U.S. air, land, and sea presence in the region, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, is a necessary and appropriate show of support to allies who have contributed robustly and bravely to Alliance operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere and who are now deeply concerned by Russias occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea and other provocative actions in Ukraine. A Persistent Presence: American's Continued Commitment to European Security

20 May 2014 NATO Defense Chiefs to Discuss Russia, Afghanistan The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dempsey, will discuss the situation in Eastern Europe, Europes southern flank, and the way forward in Afghanistan during the NATO Chiefs of Defense meetings in Brussels this week. The NATO Chiefs of Defense meetings are held twice a year, and this one is a lead-in to the NATO Summit thats slated in Wales in September.

15 May 2014 NATO Secretary-General Calls on Allies to Remain Vigilant NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says the NATO allies have to remain vigilant and ensure they are able to defend freedom, democracy and the rule of law in Europe.

08 May 2014 NATO Justified in Reinforcing Allies, Secretary-General Says Washington NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance was fully justified in reinforcing the defense of Poland and other allies in the wake of the Ukraine crisis

03 May 2014 Hagel Calls for NATO Meeting on Defense Investment At a Wilson Center forum here May 2 on NATOs 21st-century security challenges, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called for the creation of a new NATO ministerial meeting focused on defense investment that includes finance ministers or senior budget officials.

02 May 2014 Hagel on NATO Enlargement, European Security (IIPDigital)

01 May 2014 NATO's Relevance to Peace Remains Strong, Biden Says NATO remains as relevant to the peace and security of Europe as it did when it was founded 65 years ago, says U.S. Vice President Biden. Speaking before NATO foreign ministers, ambassadors and other government officials, Biden said: The growth of the Euro-Atlantic community has turned out to be one of the greatest forces in human history for advancing peace, prosperity, security and democracy.

29 April 2014 Hagel Steps Up Consultations With Eastern European Allies (via DoD.gov) Hagel is committed the defense of NATO allies and has also directed U.S. European Command Commander Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove to consult with allies to update defense plans as the security situation in Europe evolves.

29 April 2014 Kerry at Atlantic Council on NATO, Ukraine "If we want a Europe that is both whole and free, then we have to do more together immediately, with a sense of urgency, to ensure that European nations are not dependent on Russia for the majority of their energy."

29 April 2014 Events in Ukraine a Wake-up Call for NATO, Kerry Says The crisis in Ukraine now calls us back to the role that this alliance was originally created to perform, and that is to defend alliance territory and advance trans-Atlantic security, Kerry said in remarks delivered April 29 at a conference hosted by the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based nonpartisan think tank.

28 April 2014 RAF deploys Typhoon jets to bolster NATO air policing mission (via gov.UK) Four Royal Air Force Typhoons have deployed today to take part in the Nato Baltic air policing mission over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. [UK] Defence Secretary Philip Hammond announced this to the House of Commons in March. The deployment forms part of a series of measures taken by Nato to support and reassure its eastern member states.

15 April 2014 NATO Leader Emphasizes Defense Cooperation NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that the Ukraine crisis has amplified the need to strengthen cooperation between NATO, the European Union and close partners.

14 April 2014 NATO Leader to Russia: De-escalation Starts on the Ground "Today, Russia is speaking and behaving not as a partner, but as an adversary. ... In recent weeks, Russian officials have accused NATO of breaking its promises, interfering in Ukraines internal affairs, and escalating the crisis. It is time to see these claims for what they are: a smokescreen designed to cover up Russia's own broken promises, interference and escalation."

11 April 2014 Russia's accusations -setting the record straight (PDF, 400Kb, 4 pages) Russias aggression against Ukraine has led to Russias international isolation, including NATOs suspension of all practical cooperation with Russia. To divert attention away from its actions, Russia has levelled a series of accusations against NATO which are based on misrepresentations of the facts and ignore the sustained effort that NATO has put into building a partnership with Russia. Russia has also made baseless attacks on the legitimacy of the Ukrainian authorities and has used force to seize part of Ukraines territory.

11 April 2014 NATO Defends Accuracy of Satellite Images With Additional Proof (via NATO.int) "NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) defends the accuracy of the images that were released to media on April 10, 2014. The dates of the images released by SHAPE were collected by the DigitalGlobe satellite 'Constellation' between late March and early April 2014. The images are unclassified and are commercially available in DigitalGlobe's public archive. SHAPE did not alter or edit the images in any way prior to release." Related: NATO Tumble images here and here

02 April 2014 Kerry Says Crimean Crisis is Wake-Up Call for NATO NATO is facing one of its toughest challenges from Russia since the end of the Cold War in the 1990s. ... NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on April 1 announced that the alliance will suspend all practical civilian and military cooperation between NATO and Russia.

01 April 2014 Secretary Kerry's Press Conference at NATO Foreign Ministerial in Brussels

31 March 2014 Secretary Kerry on Anniversaries of NATO Enlargement "On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I welcome the five, ten, and fifteen-year anniversaries of three rounds of NATO enlargement. I am proud to celebrate the important milestones in NATOs history that have strengthened the Alliance."

27 February 2014 Hagel Says U.S. Defense Strategy Demands Closer European Ties Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels that U.S. defense strategy calls for a closer partnership with European allies while protecting readiness and enhancing modernization. Hagel added, Ahead of this years Wales Summit, the [NATO] secretary-general is putting a focus on improving NATOs military capabilities so that we can make a down payment on meeting shortfalls. Hagel Press Briefing at NATO Headquarters in Brussels

03 February 2014 NATO Secretary General in London for talks on Wales Summit (via NATO.int) NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen discussed preparations for this Septembers NATO Summit in Wales and thanked the United Kingdom for hosting the high-level meeting in talks with Prime Minister David Cameron. This summit will shape the future of our Alliance. We will make sure that NATO has the equipment and skills we need to deal with the threats we face, such as terrorism, unstable states, piracy, missile and cyber attacks, said the Secretary General.

2013

04 December 2013 Kerry Cites Goals for 2014 NATO Summit The 27-member NATO alliance is preparing for a 2014 summit in Britain and is focusing on three crucial issues: its future supporting Afghanistan security, future military capabilities and its partnerships with more than 44 nations, Secretary of State John Kerry says.

03 December 2013 Background Briefing on NATO Ministerial, Kerrys Trip in Europe The foreign ministers are expected to discuss Afghanistan and NATOs plans to train, advise and assist Afghan security forces after forces from the United States and NATO are withdrawn in 2014, according to a senior State Department official. The ministers are also expected to discuss how best to sustain NATOs military capability after operations conclude in Afghanistan. Secretary Kerry's Solo Press Availability at NATO

15 November 2013 NATO Secretary General announces dates for 2014 Summit (via NATO.int) " I am pleased to announce that the next NATO Summit will take place on September 45, 2014. I also welcome the recent announcement by the British Prime Minister David Cameron that the UK will host NATO Heads of State and Government in South Wales."

24 October 2013 NATO Defense Ministers Lay Groundwork for 2014 Summit NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels October 2223 focused on laying the groundwork for the 2014 summit that will be hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron. NATO leaders will review implementation of the alliances Strategic Concept, which the leaders agreed to during the 2010 Lisbon Summit, and pursue NATOs transformation to ensure it builds the capabilities to address future challenges.

23 October 2013 Hagel, NATO Defense Ministers Gather at "Inflection Point" NATO defense ministers are meeting this week as the alliance faces what many here call an inflection point: how to preserve hard-earned NATO operational capabilities while winding down operations in Afghanistan over the coming months.

22 October 2013 Hagel in Brussels for NATO Defense Meetings Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived here October 21 for a gathering of NATO defense ministers set to start October 22 and continue through the next day.

03 June 2013 Hagel Arrives in Brussels for NATO Defense Meetings Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived June 3 to join NATO and partner defense ministers for discussions on topics including Afghanistan, cybersecurity, a possible Libya training mission and collective defense. Senior defense officials traveling with the secretary noted the ministerial gathering here comes at a time when NATO capabilities and members defense spending are important issues.

31 May 2013 Obama, NATO Secretary-General Rasmussen After Their Meeting President Obama and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen discuss the bilateral relationship, Afghanistan and NATO forces in remarks after their meeting.

23 April 2013 NATO Allies in Agreement on Afghanistan, Syria, North Korea The United States and its NATO allies are in unanimous agreement about Afghanistan never again becoming a haven for terrorists, about the need for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to leave power and for the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea to cease its provocations, according to Secretary of State John Kerry.

23 April 2013 Kerry at NATO Headquarters in Brussels "Europe is America's partner of first resort, and this alliance is a vibrant and critical institution for ensuring the security not just of our region but all across the globe."

22 April 2013 Senior State Dept. Official on NATO Ministerial in Brussels

18 April 2013 Implementation of the European Phased Adaptive Approach Deputy Assistant Secretary Rose , Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, speaking at the Polish National Defense University, Warsaw, Poland.

28 March 2013 Obama on Nomination of Next Supreme Allied Commander Europe "Today I am proud to announce my intention to nominate General Philip Breedlove as the next Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) and Commander of U.S. European Command.If confirmed by the Senate, General Breedlove will replace Admiral Jim Stavridis as the Supreme Allied Commander in late Spring.

25 March 2013 Admiral Presses for More NATO-Russia Dialogue Noting increased cooperation between NATO and Russia in several key areas, the top NATO and U.S. European Command commander emphasized March 25 the importance of working through stumbling blocks in what he called a complicated partnership.

23 February 2013 Final Drawdown to Begin After Afghan Elections, Panetta Says The United States will maintain more than 60,000 troops in Afghanistan through the spring and summer fighting season, cutting to 34,000 by February 2014 and staying at that strength through the Afghan elections set for 2014, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said here today.

22 February 2013 NATO Secretary-General Pledges New Afghan Mission Post-2014 Anders Fogh Rasmussen spoke February 22 to open the session of NATO and non-NATO troop-contributing nations here on the last day of a two-day NATO defense ministers meeting. The International Security Assistance Force mission in Afghanistan will end late in 2014, when Afghan forces will have assumed security responsibility for their nations people, he said.

17 January 2013 Panetta Urges New Focus for NATO As the International Security Assistance Force transitions to a sustaining role in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, will NATO retreat from its responsibilities, or innovate to develop and share the capabilities needed to meet growing, global security challenges? Defense Secretary Panetta delivered a speech at King's College here today, built around that question.

15 January 2013 In Europe Remarks, Panetta Stresses NATO Commitment In a joint news conference here with Spanish Defense Minister Pedro Morenes Eulate, and in an earlier event today with Portuguese Defense Minister Jose Pedro Aguiar-Branco, the secretary praised NATO allies resolve over the past 10-plus years of war, and urged their continued commitment to the transatlantic alliance.

2012

05 December 2012 Clinton Applauds NATO for Global Security Cooperation Secretary of State Clinton and her counterparts from the NATO alliance discussed a wide range of global economic, security and political issues during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. The meeting of the NATO-Russia Council covered the groups extensive cooperation with Russia in places like Afghanistan. Clinton said members also spoke frankly about areas of disagreement between NATO and Russia, including Georgias sovereignty and territorial integrity and the need for a political transition in Syria

11 October 2012 Panetta at NATO Cites Significant Progress in Afghanistan Speaking at a NATO defense ministers conference Panetta said a surge of U.S. and International Security Assistance Force forces has concluded and was successful in regaining control of ground under Taliban insurgent control in 2011 and preventing the Taliban from regaining any of those areas. In addition, the surge forces were successful in pushing the Taliban out of even more areas in 2012, he said.

10 October 2012 Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta's Statement to NATO Defense Ministers

03 October 2012 NATO Extends Rasmussen's Term as Secretary General The North Atlantic Council has extended Anders Fogh Rasmussens four-year term as NATO secretary general for another year, until July 31, 2014, the council announced today.

18 September 2012 ISAF clarifies information on partnering with ANSF (via NATO.int) Recent media coverage regarding a change in ISAF's model of Security Force Assistance (SFA) to the Afghan National Security Forces is not accurate. ISAF remains absolutely committed to partnering with, training, advising and assisting our ANSF counterparts. The ISAF SFA model is focused at the battalion level and above, with exceptions approved by senior commanders. Partnering occurs at all levels, from Platoon to Corps. This has not changed.

06 July 2012NATO to Strengthen Ability to Act with Global Partners NATO seeks to assume a more global perspective, play its part globally and strengthen its ability to act with partners around the globe, says Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. In a speech at Chatham House, Rasmussen said forging closer links with partners in Asia, Africa and elsewhere is crucial to guaranteeing future security in the Euro-Atlantic area.

24 June 2012 Secretary Clinton on Syrian Shoot-Down of Turkish Aircraft "The United States condemns this brazen and unacceptable act in the strongest possible terms. It is yet another reflection of the Syrian authorities' callous disregard for international norms, human life, and peace and security."

21 May 2102 NATO Announces Interim Missile Defense Capability NATO members announced that the alliance has achieved an interim ballistic missile defense capability, with plans for it to be fully operational in 2018. The capability is designed to defend NATOs European populations and territories from a missile attack; the alliance said it is not directed against Russia and will not undermine Russias strategic deterrence capabilities. White House Fact Sheet on NATO Capabilities President Obama on Results of NATO Summit NATO's Chicago Summit Declaration

21 May 2102 NATO Allies: Afghan Forces Will Take Security Control in 2013 President Obama and leaders of the United States NATO allies have formally agreed to transfer security responsibility across Afghanistan to Afghan forces in 2013, a significant step toward transition as U.S. and international forces prepare to end their combat mission in the country in 2014. White House Fact Sheet on NATO and Afghanistan After 2014 NATO Summit Declaration on Afghanistan

20 May 2102 Panetta Meets With UK Counterpart Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta met with his counterpart from the United Kingdom, Secretary of State of Defense Philip Hammond. The top defense officials met during the first day of the 25th NATO Summit, the largest and broadest in the alliances history.

20 May 2012 Obama at Opening of North Atlantic Council Meeting "I look forward to our meeting with NATOs neighbors and our partners around the world who have been so critical to NATO operations as in Afghanistan and Libya. It will be another reminder that NATO is truly a hub of a network of global security partners. There is nothing else like it on Earth."

20 May 2012 Obama, NATO Secretary-General Rasmussen Before Meeting at 2012 Summit

14 May 2012 NATO Summit to Focus on Afghanistan, Missile Defense Afghanistan will top the agenda items at the upcoming NATO Summit in Chicago as coalition members consider an agreement on a long-term strategic partnership that promotes security and stability there, said Navy Admiral James Stavridis, NATOs supreme allied commander for Europe.

10 May 2012 NATO Summit to Reaffirm Afghan Transition Plan The May 2021 NATO Summit in Chicago will focus on the alliances mission in Afghanistan, including its shift from a combat role to a supporting role for Afghan security forces, as well as defense capabilities and partnerships among member nations to meet the security challenges of the 21st century.

18 April 2012 Secretaries Clinton, Panetta at NATO Headquarters in Brussels Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta discuss Afghanistan and Syria during a press briefing at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

03 April 2012 Remarks of Secretary Clinton to the World Affairs Council 2012 NATO Conference

21 March 2012 Fact Sheet on May NATO Summit in Chicago The United States will host the NATO Summit May 20-21, in Chicago, Illinois. President Obama looks forward to welcoming leaders from NATO member and partner nations to his hometown for the Summit of the worlds most successful Alliance. At the NATO Summit, leaders will discuss the next major phase of transition in Afghanistan, agree to further steps to ensure NATO has the capabilities necessary to meet the challenges of the 21st century, and further broaden and deepen its relationships with non-NATO partners.

12 March 2012 Obama: 2012 G8 and NATO Summits Scheduled for May President Obama says he will host the 2012 Group of Eight (G8)summit of advanced economies outside Washington at the Maryland presidential retreat of Camp David to discuss long-term global economic recovery. He will also host the 28-member NATO Summit in Chicago this spring for talks on defense and security cooperation. When the two summits werefirst announced, the White House had said it would host both events back-to-back in Chicago, the presidents hometown. But the president said during a news conference recently that splitting the two summits was an idea proposed to him after the initial announcement.

02 February 2012 Panetta Describes U.S. Military Transition in Afghanistan Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the United States is aiming to draw down combat forces from Afghanistan starting this year and end its combat role by late 2013, with a measured transition throughout 2014 to one of training and advising local security forces.

01 February 2012 Panetta to Meet With NATO Leaders in Brussels Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said today he will stress during this weeks NATO defense ministers conference that ongoing coalition commitment is essential to success in Afghanistan. One of the pillars of our strategy is to build on successful partnerships, and NATO is, without question, one of the most successful military alliances in history, the secretary told reporters traveling with him to Brussels.

2011

08 November 2011 Obama, NATO Chief Discuss Libya, Afghanistan President Obama and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen met to discuss NATOs just-ended mission to support Libya and to discuss goals for the 2012 Chicago summit, which will feature discussions on Afghanistan. A significant part of their meeting in the Oval Office was focused on NATOs defense capabilities to meet future security threats, which is expected to be a dominant theme at the next summit. Obama is hosting the 25th NATO summit May 2021 in Chicago.

07 October 2011 Panetta Cites Progress, Gaps in NATO Defense Countries of the NATO alliance must work together to defend common security interests now and in the future, said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. At his final press conference of the NATO defense ministerial, Panetta summarized key issues, praised the alliance and its success in Afghanistan and Libya, and detailed work that is needed to fill gaps in the alliances military capabilities.

06 October 2011 Panetta Details Guidelines for Ending Libya Mission Consensus exists among NATO members about how to decide when to end Operation Unified Protector in Libya, based on guidelines that can be used to evaluate conditions on the ground there.

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NATO | London, UK - Embassy of the United States

NATOs secretary general has taken part in a meeting of Ukraines National Security and Defence Council, during which a number of agreements were signed.

They included partnership in communications and agreement on the status of NATOs Mission in Ukraine. Ukraines President Petro Poroshenko said he might bring up the issue of peacekeepers in the Donbass at the upcoming UN General Assembly.

Russian troops are present in Ukraine. And they continue to support separatists with training, with equipment, with command and control. And therefore I call on Russia to withdraw all its forces from Eastern Ukraine and to fully implement the Minsk agreements, said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Russia continues to deny involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but from being more than 60% against NATO membership before fighting began, Ukrainian public opinion has changed dramatically.

About 64% of Ukrainian voters said they would vote for joining NATO. They indicated: the main reason for joining was that it would guarantee the safety of the country in future. The second reason was that NATO membership would be the first step on the road to join the EU, said Sociologist Maria Zolkina from the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation.

Earlier Poroshenko and Stoltenberg reviewed troops at the Peacekeeping and Security Centre of the Ukrainian army in Lviv in western Ukraine. however NATO once again declined to supply Ukraine with weapons.

Petro Poroshenko has announced that Ukraine will hold a referendum on joining the military alliance. However, the poll will not take place in the near future. Before the referendum is held, the state needs to implement a number of serious reforms. First of all, Ukraine should reestablish peace and stability in its eastern regions and bring Ukrainian Armed Forces in line with NATO standards, reports euronews Maria Korenyuk.

Originally posted here:
NATO signs agreements with Ukrainian government

ACT Human Resources Published on 18 June 2015

This Newcomers' & Serving Staffareais designed to assist personnel and their family members during the relocation process to the United States and throughout their tour of duty. These collection of pages and links contain a wealth of information related to Legal Assistance and Personal Transition, Military Personnel and Civilian Personnel check-in requirements and Staff Training requirements.

You may want to know more about the Organization, the latest ACT Structure, National Representatives, or the Biographies of our Command Group, our Mission and our History, or our Former Commanders.

On our website you can also find pictures of our previous events, informative videos and the electronic version of our magazine, The Transformer.

The primary mission of the Legal Assistance Section, Office of the Legal Advisor, is to provide individualized legal support and personal transition information to HQ personnel and their dependents.

The Legal Assistance sectionSection can assist with topics to include but not limited to immigration, visas, eligibility for healthcare, finding a home in the local area, United States Customs issues associated with importing household goods, vehicles and personal articles, opening bank accounts and associated forms, purchasing and registering vehicles, obtaining Virginia drivers licenses, personal property tax exemptions, local vehicle registration requirements and exemptions, social security numbers, dependent employment authorization eligibility, traffic laws both on and off the military installations/bases, and similar issues.

The mission of the HQ Staff Training Section is to provide internal training to staff personnel, ensuring that they are fully trained and educated to work effectively within HQ SACT.

Our Section will help you to familiarize quickly with NATO and HQ SACT and to better understand the HQs output, structure and working processes. Your training will always begin with orientation and, after being settled, continue with more "in depth" cross functional training and training necessary for individual posts and evolving professional development.

We can be reached at: +1 757 747 3334/4034/4327/4410, don't hesitate to contact us even before your arrival in Norfolk!

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Newcomers & Serving Staff - Allied Command Transformation

U.S. Infantry Troops Arrive In Poland For NATO Exercises. Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's an alliance of 28 member countries roughly bordering the North Atlantic Ocean: Canada, U.S., Turkey and most members of the European Union. NATO's purpose is to protect the freedom of its members. As famously defined in Article 5, "...an armed attack upon one...shall be considered an attack upon them all."

In recent years, NATO's purpose has expanded to include defense against weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and cyber attacks.

Since its inception following World War II, NATO has had to continually redefine its focus as a military and political alliance to keep up with the changing face of war.

What Is the Purpose of NATO Today?:

NATO protects the security of its members. However, it must also take into consideration aggression against non-members that threaten the stability of the region. That's why its September 2014 summit focused onPresident Putin's goal to create a "Little Russia" out of Ukraine's eastern region. Although Ukraine is not a NATO member, other former USSR countries are, and they're worried. President Obama vowed to defend countries such as Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. The U.S. contributes three-quarters of NATO's budget. (Source: WSJ, U.S. Vows NATO Defense of Baltics, Sep. 4, 2014)

On August 28,2014, NATO announcedit had photos proving that Russia was invading Ukraine. Although Ukraine is not a NATO member, it has been working closely with NATO over the years. Russia's invasion of Ukraine threatens NATO members who are afraid they will be next because they were also former U.S.S.R.

satellite countries.

NATO expanded its role after the 9/11 attacks to include the war on terrorism. NATO is winding down its mission in Afghanistan, which deployed 84,000 troops at its peak from both NATO-member countries and at least a dozen non-members. By 2014, NATO expects to transition all security to the Afghan military.

NATO itself admits that "Peacekeeping has become at least as difficult as peacemaking." As a result, NATO is strengthening alliances throughout the world. In the age of globalization, transatlantic peace has become a worldwide effort that extends beyond military might alone. (Source: NATO History)

What Is the History of NATO?:

NATO was established after World War II as part of the United Nations. Its primary purpose was to defend member nations against the large number of troops in pro-communist countries. The U.S. also wanted to maintain a presence in Europe, to prevent a resurgence of military nationalism and foster political union. In this way, NATO made the European Union possible.

NATO and the Cold War:

During the Cold War, NATO's mission expanded to prevent nuclear war. After West Germany joined NATO, the communist countries formed the Warsaw Pact alliance, including the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, Rumania, Poland, Czechoslovakia and East Germany. In response, NATO adopted the "Massive Retaliation" policy, which promised to use nuclear weapons if the Pact attacked. This deterrence policy allowed Europe to focus on economic development instead of building large conventional armies.

The Soviet Union, on the other hand, continued to build its military presence. By the end of the Cold War, it was spending three times what the U.S. was with only one-third the economic power. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, it was due to economic as well as ideological reasons.After the USSR dissolved in the late 1980s, NATO's relationship with Russia thawed. In 1997, the NATO-Russia Founding Act was signed to build bilateral cooperation. In 2002, the NATO-Russia Council was formed to allow NATO members and Russia to partner on common security issues.

The collapse of the USSR led to unrest in its former satellite states. NATO expanded its focus to address this instability when a civil war in the former Yugoslavia turned into ethnic cleansing and genocide. NATO's initial support of a United Nations naval embargo led to the enforcement of a no-fly zone. Violations then led to a few airstrikes until September 1999, when NATO conducted a heavy nine-day air campaign that ended the war. By December of that year, NATO deployed a peace-keeping force of 60,000 soldiers that ended in 2004, when NATO transferred this function to the European Union.

NATO Member Countries:

NATO's 28 members include: Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States. Each member is represented by an ambassador, who is supported by officials that serve on the different NATO committees. From time to time, the President/Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister or head of Defense will meet to discuss NATO business.

NATO Alliances:

NATO is involved with three alliances that expand its influence beyond its 28 member countries.

In addition, NATO cooperates with eight other countries in joint security issues. These countries include five in Asia (Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mongolia and New Zealand) and two in the Middle East (Afghanistan and Pakistan). (Source: NATO, Partnerships)Article updated August 28, 2014

Continued here:
What Is NATO? Purpose, History, Members and Alliances

2013 Fortune 500 Corporations[53]

Hampton Roads has become known as the "world's greatest natural harbor". The port is located only 18 miles (29km) from open ocean on one of the world's deepest, natural ice-free harbors. Since 1989, Hampton Roads has been the mid-Atlantic leader in U.S. waterborne foreign commerce and is ranked second nationally behind the Port of South Louisiana based on export tonnage. When import and export tonnage are combined, the Port of Hampton Roads ranks as the third largest port in the country (following the ports of New Orleans/South Louisiana and Houston). In 1996, Hampton Roads was ranked ninth among major U.S. ports in vessel port calls with approximately 2,700. In addition, this port is the U.S. leader in coal exports. The coal loading facilities in the Port of Hampton Roads are able to load in excess of 65 million tons annually, giving the port the largest, most efficient and modern coal loading facilities in the world.

It is little surprise therefore that the Hampton Roads region's economic base is largely port-related, including shipbuilding, ship repair, naval installations, cargo transfer and storage, and manufacturing related to the processing of imports and exports. Associated with the ports' military role are almost 50,000 federal civilian employees.

The harbor of Hampton Roads is an important highway of commerce, especially for the cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Newport News.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (formerly Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company), was created in 2008 as a spinoff of Northrop Grumman Newport News and is the world's largest shipyard. It is located a short distance up the James River. In Portsmouth, a few miles up the Elizabeth River, the historic Norfolk Naval Shipyard is located. BAE Systems, formerly known as NORSHIPCO, operates from sites in the City of Norfolk. There are also several smaller shipyards, numerous docks and terminals.

Massive coal piers and loading facilities were established in the late 19th and early 20th century by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W), and Virginian Railway (VGN). The latter two were predecessors of the Norfolk Southern Railway, a Class I railroad which has its headquarters in Norfolk, and continues to export coal from a large facility at Lambert's Point on the Elizabeth River. CSX Transportation now serves the former C&O facility at Newport News. (The VGN's former coal facility at Sewell's Point has been gone since the 1960s, and the property is now part of the expansive Norfolk Navy Base).

Almost 80% of the region's economy is derived from federal sources. This includes the large military presence, but also NASA and facilities of the Departments of Energy, Transportation, Commerce and Veterans Affairs. The region also receives a substantial impact in government student loans and grants, university research grants, and federal aid to cities.

The Hampton Roads area has the largest concentration of military bases and facilities of any metropolitan area in the world. Nearly one-fourth of the nations active-duty military personnel are stationed in Hampton Roads, and 45% of the region's $81B gross regional output is Defense-related.[54][55] All five military services operating forces are there, as well as several major command headquarters: Hampton Roads is a chief rendezvous of the United States Navy, and the area is home to the Allied Command Transformation, which is the only major military command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on U.S. soil. Langley Air Force Base is home to Air Combat Command (ACC). The Norfolk Navy Base is located at Sewell's Point near the mouth, on the site used for the tercentennial Jamestown Exposition in 1907. For a width of 500 feet (150m) the Federal government during 1902 through 1905 increased its minimum depth at low water from 25.5 to 30 feet (8 to 9m), and the channel has now been dredged to a depth of 55 feet (17m) in some places.

NASA's Langley Research Center, located on the Peninsula adjacent to Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, is home to scientific and aerospace technology research. The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (commonly known as Jefferson Labs) is located nearby in Newport News.

The area's experiences with commercial and retail centers began early in 1918. Afton Square, located in the Cradock naval community of Portsmouth, was the first planned shopping center in the USA and has served as template for future developments throughout the nation.[56]

Hampton Roads experienced tremendous growth during and after World War II. In the 1950s, a trend in retail was the shopping center, a group of stores along a common sidewalk adjacent to off-street parking, usually in a suburban location.

In 1959, one of the largest on the east coast of the USA was opened at the northeast corner of Military Highway and Virginia Beach Boulevard on property which had formally been used as an airfield. The new JANAF Shopping Center, located in Norfolk, featured acres of free parking and dozens of stores. Backed by retired military personnel, the name JANAF was an acronym for Joint Army Navy Air Force.[57]

During the 1950s and early 1960s, other shopping centers in Hampton Roads were developed, such as Wards Corner Shopping Center, Downtown Plaza Shopping Center and Southern Shopping Center in Norfolk; Mid-City Shopping Center in Portsmouth; Hilltop Shopping Center (now known as The Shops at Hilltop) in Virginia Beach; Riverdale Shopping Center in Hampton and the Warwick-Denbigh Shopping Center in Newport News.

In the late-1960s, a new type of shopping center came to Hampton Roads: the Indoor Shopping Mall. In 1965, South Hampton Roads broke ground on its first shopping mall in Virginia Beach, known as Pembroke Mall. The mall opened in 1966, and became Hampton Road's newest indoor shopping destination. The Virginia Peninsula had its first indoor shopping mall in 1973, with Coliseum Mall. Coliseum Mall drew so much traffic from Interstate 64, that a towering flyover was built at the Mercury Boulevard and Coliseum Drive intersection, to accommodate eastbound mall traffic, from the Mercury Boulevard interchange. Coliseum Mall was demolished to make way for the open air mixed-use development Peninsula Town Center. Also in the 1970s, Tower Mall was built in Portsmouth, but was torn down and turned into the Victory Crossing shopping development. In Norfolk, Military Circle Mall on Military Highway was built across Virginia Beach Boulevard from the large JANAF Shopping Center with its own high-rise hotel right in the center. In 1981, Greenbrier Mall gave Chesapeake a shopping mall of its own as well, and Virginia Beach got the massive Lynnhaven Mall the same year.

MacArthur Center opened in March 1999, which made downtown Norfolk a prime shoppers destination, with the region's first Nordstrom department store anchor. MacArthur Center is compared to other downtown malls, such as Baltimore's Harborplace, Indianapolis' Circle Centre Mall, Atlanta's Lenox Square Mall and most comparably to The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City near Washington, D.C., in Arlington, Virginia.

Currently, Virginia Beach's Lynnhaven Mall is the region's largest shopping center with nearly 180 stores, and is one of the region's biggest tourist draws, with the Virginia Beach oceanfront, Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens Williamsburg: The Old Country and MacArthur Center.

For a long time, the indoor shopping malls were seen as largely competitive with small shopping centers and traditional downtown type areas. However, in the 1990s and since, the "big-box stores" on the Peninsula and Southside, such as Wal-mart, Home Depot, and Target have been creating a new competitive atmosphere for the shopping malls of Hampton Roads.

Several older malls such as Pembroke and Military Circle have since their grand openings been renovated, and others have been closed and torn down. Newmarket North Mall is now NetCenter, a business center (the Sears store remains). Coliseum Mall, in Hampton, has been redeveloped as Peninsula Town Center in a new style, in step with the latest commercial real estate trend: the nationwide establishment of "lifestyle centers". Additional malls which have closed include Mercury Mall in Hampton (converted to Mercury Plaza Shopping Center in the mid-1980s, then completely torn down in 2001), and Tower Mall in Portsmouth (Built in the early 1970s, then torn down in 2001).

In late 2006, the Hampton Roads Partnership, a non-profit organization representing 17 localities (ten cities, six counties, and one town), all local universities and major military commands as well as leading businesses in southeastern Virginia, commenced a campaign aimed at branding the land area of Hampton Roads as "America's First Region".

The new title is based on events in 1607 when English Captain Christopher Newport's three ships the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery landed at Cape Henry along the Atlantic Coast in what is today Virginia Beach. After 18 days of exploring the area, the ships and their crews arrived at Jamestown Island where they established the first English speaking settlement to survive in the New World on May 14, 1607.

Because the region's east-west boundaries (now the City of Virginia Beach and James City County) have not changed since 1607, the Partnership felt justified in labeling Hampton Roads "America's First Region". It unveiled the new brand before 800 people at the annual meeting of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce on December 13, 2006. A video shown that afternoon included endorsements from mayors and county board of supervisors chairs representing Hampton, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg and James City County as well as the Governor of Virginia, Timothy Kaine.[58][citation needed]

The mission of Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance (HREDA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to business attractionmarketing the Hampton Roads region as the preferred location for business investment and expansion. HREDA represents the cities of Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg and Franklin, as well as the counties of Gloucester, James City, Isle of Wight, York, and Southampton.[59]

In 1998, a flag representing the Hampton Roads region was adopted. The design of the flag was created by a contest. The winner, sixteen-year-old Andrew J. Wall of Frank W. Cox High School in Virginia Beach, raised the new regional flag for the first time on the mast of a ship moored in the harbor.

As conceived by student Andrew Wall and embellished by the selection committee, his flag is highly symbolic:

The area is most often associated with the larger American South. People who have grown up in the Hampton Roads area have a unique Tidewater accent which sounds different from a stereotypical Southern accent. Vowels have a longer pronunciation than in a regular southern accent.[61]

There's also a wealth of other points of history to explore in the Hampton Roads area. Led by the Historic Triangle area, Hampton Roads consistently rates among the top tourism destinations in the world.

Cultural attractions include museums, historical sites, and venues from tiny to massively large for such things as art and musical shows. The region hosts two week-long visits by the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus each year with multiple performances at Norfolk Scope and the Hampton Coliseum, and even attracts a group of Circus Train Enthusiasts, railfans who watch, photograph and report on the blue or red unit trains as they make their move between the two sites, requiring a long inland trip through Petersburg and Richmond in order to avoid crossing the 10-mile (16km) geographical distance across the harbor (a trip impassable directly by modern trains; the two bridge-tunnel facilities operated by VDOT accommodate only highway traffic).

The Historic Triangle is located on the Virginia Peninsula and includes the colonial communities of Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown, with many restored attractions linked by the Colonial Parkway.

The National Park Service's Colonial Parkway joins the three popular attractions of Colonial Virginia with a scenic and bucolic roadway carefully shielded from views of commercial development. This helps visitors mentally return to the past, and there are often views of wildlife and waterfowl. This two lane roadway is the best (but not quickest) way to move between the three points. Near the James River and York River ends of the parkway, there are several pull-offs, where some families allow their children to feed bread to the seagulls. Commercial vehicles, except for tour buses, are prohibited.

For an even better experience, approach the area from the south by water from Surry County with a ride aboard one of the Jamestown Ferrys, which include the Pocahontas and Williamsburg. As passengers cross, they can walk about the boat or go up to an enclosed viewing level with restrooms. Weather and daylight permitting, passengers usually see Jamestown Island much as the first colonists may have approached it. In fact, the replicas of Christopher Newport's the three tiny ships, Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery are docked near the northern ferry landing at Glass House Point. Both the Jamestown Ferry and Colonial Parkway are toll-free.

The first permanent English settlement in the New World which was established at Jamestown in 1607. The 350th anniversary celebration at Jamestown Festival Park in 1957 was so popular, tourism has been continuously increasing ever since. The 400th anniversary was celebrated with an 18-month-long celebration called Jamestown 2007.

Today, at Jamestown, you can visit recreations of an American Indian village and colonial fort, and archaeological sites where current work is underway by archaeologistss from the Jamestown Rediscovery project, with recently recovered archaeological artifacts in a new display building. Replicas of the three ships, Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery are docked nearby.

The two major attractions, which are complementary to each other, are the state-sponsored Jamestown Settlement near the entrance to Jamestown Island, and the National Park Service's Historic Jamestowne, on Jamestown Island itself.

In 1699, the first capital of Virginia was moved to Middle Plantation at the suggestion of students from the College of William & Mary (established 1693). It was soon renamed to Williamsburg, but became a largely forgotten little town after the capital was moved to Richmond in 1780. Largely due to the 20th-century preservation efforts of the Reverend Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin, rector of Bruton Parish Church and the generosity of Standard Oil heir John D. Rockefeller Jr., today Colonial Williamsburg is a large living museum of early American life. It has dozens of restored and recreated buildings and reenactors. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. The Visitor's Center (right off the Colonial Parkway) features a short movie and is an excellent place to start (and leave automobiles, which are restricted from the restored area, where wheelchair-accessible shuttle bus service is provided).

Bassett Hall, an 18th-century farmhouse, is located in Williamsburg just southeast of the Historic Area, was the Williamsburg home for over 25 years of the family of John D. Rockefeller Jr and his family from the mid-1930s until 1960, following over 7 years of restoration and expansions. The Rockefeller family bequeathed Bassett Hall to Colonial Williamsburg in 1979.[62] The home is now open to the public and appears much as it did in the 1930s and 1940s when the Rockefellers made it their home.[63]

The third point of the Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia is Yorktown where General Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington in 1781, ending the American Revolution. There are two large visitor centers, battlefield drives, and a waterfront area.

Notwithstanding the amazingly successful efforts to provide a non-commercial atmosphere at the three Historic Triangle areas (and on the Colonial Parkway between them), there are many hotels, motels, campgrounds, restaurants, shops and stores, gasoline stations, and amusements close by.

The Mariners' Museum, founded in 1930 by Archer and Anna Huntington, is an institution dedicated to bringing maritime history to the world. It is currently home to the USS Monitor Center where 210 tons of artifacts recovered from the USS Monitor are held, including the gun turret. The museum also consists of a 550-acre park and Lake Maury, through which is the five-mile Noland Trail. The permanent collection at the museum totals about 32,000 objects, equally divided between works of art and three-dimensional objects. The Mariners' Museum Library and Archive, now located in the Trible Library at Christopher Newport University, consists of over 78,000 books, 800,000 photographs, films and negatives, and over one million archival pieces, making it the largest maritime library in the Western hemisphere.[64]

The Virginia War Museum covers American military history. The Museum's collection includes, weapons, vehicles, artifacts, uniforms and posters from various periods of American history. Highlights of the Museum's collection include a section of the Berlin Wall and the outer wall from Dachau Concentration Camp.[65]

The Virginia Living Museum, first established in 1966, combines the elements of a native wildlife park, science museum, aquarium, botanical preserve, and planetarium. The exhibits are themed on the geographic regions of Virginia, from the Appalachian Mountains to the offshore waters of the Atlantic Ocean, and includes more than 245 different animal species.[66]

The Peninsula Fine Arts Center in Newport News contains a rotating gallery of art exhibits. The Center also contains a Studio Art School of private and group instruction for all ages. It maintains a permanent "Hands On For Kids" gallery designed for children and families to interact in what the Center describes as "a fun, educational environment that encourages participation with art materials and concepts."[67]

The Hampton University museum was established in 1868 in the heart of the historic Hampton University campus. The Museum is the oldest African American museum in the United States and one of the oldest museums in the State of Virginia. It contains over 9,000 objects, including African American fine arts, traditional African, Native American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Island, and Asian art.[68]

The Charles H. Taylor Arts Center is Hampton's public access arts center. It offers a series of changing visual art exhibitions as well as a quarterly schedule of classes, workshops and educational programs.[69]

The Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center in SE Newport News contains a community-based art gallery, as well as arts classrooms and the Ella Fitzgerald Theater.[70]

The Casemate Museum (where former Confederate President Jefferson Davis was imprisoned) is at Fort Monroe in the historic Phoebus area at Old Point Comfort in Hampton.[71]

NASA Langley Research Center is in Hampton, the original training ground for the Mercury Seven, Gemini, and Apollo Astronauts. Visitors are able to learn about the region's aviation history at the Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton.[72]

Air Power Park is an outdoor on-site display of various aircraft and a space capsule. It is located on Mercury Boulevard at the intersection of LaSalle Blvd, near the AF Base.

The Biblical Art Gallery at Ivy Farms Baptist Church is Virginia's largest collection of pre-1900s religious art.

The Chrysler Museum of Art, located in the Ghent district of Norfolk, is the region's foremost art museum and is considered by the New York Times to be the finest in the state.[74] Of particular note is the extensive glass collection and American neoclassical marble sculptures.

Nauticus, the National Maritime Center, opened on the downtown waterfront in 1994. It features hands-on exhibits, interactive theaters, aquaria, digital high-definition films and an extensive variety of educational programs. Since 2000, Nauticus has been home to the battleship USS Wisconsin, one of the last battleships to be built in the United States. It served briefly in World War II and later in the Korean and Gulf Wars.[75] The General Douglas MacArthur Memorial, located in the 19th-century Norfolk court house and city hall in downtown, contains the tombs of the late General and his wife, a museum and a vast research library, personal belongings (including his famous corncob pipe) and a short film that chronicles the life of the famous General of the Army.[76]

Also in downtown Norfolk and inside Nauticus is the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, an official U.S. Navy museum that focuses on the 220 plus year history of the Navy within the region.

The Children's Museum of Virginia in Portsmouth has one of the largest collection of model electric trains and other toys.

The Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth is one of the oldest shipyards and has the first dry dock on display.

The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (in Suffolk and Chesapeake) is accessed from U.S. Route 17 in Chesapeake.

The Suffolk-Nansemond Museum is in the restored Seaboard and Virginian Railway passenger train station in Suffolk.

The Isle of Wight Museum is in Smithfield.

The Contemporary Art Center of Virginia located in Virginia Beach features the significant art of our time.

The Hampton Roads region has a thriving music scene, with a heavy concentration thereof in the Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, and Norfolk areas. Many clubs, venues, and festivals exist within the region, all playing host to a wide variety of musical styles. There are a few hundred bands that play routinely in the region, spanning multiple genres. There are also twenty to thirty musical acts based in the region that perform throughout Hampton Roads and its surrounding areas on a "full-time" basis.

In addition, plenty of well known acts have come from the area. Some of the major rock/pop artists include Bruce Hornsby, Gary "U.S." Bonds, Juice Newton, Mae, Seven Mary Three, Gene Vincent, Keller Williams, and Steve Earle. Ella Fitzgerald is the most recognizable jazz musician from the area. Robert Cray and Ruth Brown are both prominent blues and R&B artists. Tommy Newsom is another famous jazz musician. Many prominent rap and hip hop artists come from the area including Chad Hugo, Clipse, Magoo, Missy Elliott, Nicole Wray, Pharrell Williams, Quan, Teddy Riley, and Timbaland.

The region has a number of venues hosting live music and performances. Several of the larger (in order of maximum seating capacity) are:

Dozens of much smaller commercial establishments offer live music and other entertainment such as comedy shows and mystery dinner-theater throughout the region.

The Norfolk Botanical Garden, opened in 1939, is a 155-acre (0.6km2) botanical garden and arboretum located near the Norfolk International Airport. It is open year round.[77]

The Virginia Zoological Park, opened in 1900, is a 65-acre (260,000m2) zoo with hundreds of animals on display, including the critically endangered Siberian Tiger and threatened White Rhino.[78]

First Landing State Park and False Cape State Park are both located in coastal areas in Virginia Beach. Both offer camping facilities, cabins, and outdoor recreation activities in addition to nature and history tours. First Landing is the site of Cape Henry while False Cape is located at the southeastern end of Virginia Beach.[79][80]

Newport News Park is located in the northern part of the city of Newport News. The city's golf course also lies within the Park along with camping and outdoor activities. There are over 30 miles (48km) of trails in the Newport News Park complex. The park has a 5.3-mile (8.5-km) multi-use bike path. The park offers bicycle and helmet rental, and requires helmet use by children under 14. Newport News Park also offers an archery range, disc golf course, and an "aeromodel flying field" for remote-controlled aircraft, complete with a 400ft (120m) runway.[81]

The region also has amusement parks which attract tourists and locals alike. Ocean Breeze Waterpark, Shipwreck Golf, and Motor World are Virginia Beach's amusement parks, which were formerly called Ocean Breeze Fun Park. As separate parks, they provide miniature golf, go-karts, water slides, pools, climbing wall, paintball area, and kiddie rides.[82][83]Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Water Country USA are the major theme parks in Williamsburg.

normal seating capacity in parentheses

Hampton Roads has a number of public and private golf courses.[85]

Three daily newspapers serve Hampton Roads: The Virginian-Pilot in the Southside, the The Daily Press on the Peninsula, and the six days a week Suffolk News-Herald that serves Suffolk and Franklin.[90] Smaller publications include the Williamsburg-James City County area's twice-weekly Virginia Gazette (the state's oldest newspaper[91]), the New Journal and Guide, and Inside Business, the area's only business newspaper.

Newspapers serving the Hampton Roads area include:

Coastal Virginia Magazine is one of the region's city and lifestyle magazine. The publication is published eight times a year and covers all of Hampton Roads and the Eastern Shore of Virginia.[92]Coastal Virginia Magazine was formerly known as Hampton Roads Magazine.

Hampton Roads Times (web site) serves as an online magazine for the region.

Suffolk Living Magazine is another of the region's city and lifestyle magazines. The publication is published four times a year and covers the City of Suffolk. Suffolk Publications also produces Virginia-Carolina Boomers, a regional guide for Boomers in the area, which comes out twice a year.[93]

The Hampton Roads designated market area (DMA) is the 42nd largest in the U.S. with 712,790 homes (0.64% of the total U.S.).[94] The major network television affiliates are WTKR-TV 3 (CBS), WAVY 10 (NBC), WVEC-TV 13 (ABC), WGNT 27 (CW), WTVZ 33 (MyNetworkTV), WVBT 43 (Fox), and WPXV 49 (ION Television). The Public Broadcasting Service station is WHRO-TV 15. WUND 2(UNC-TV/PBS member station), broadcasting out of Edenton, NC, serves as another PBS affiliate for the area. Area residents also can receive independent stations, such as WSKY broadcasting on channel 4 from the Outer Banks of North Carolina, WGBS-LD broadcasting on channel 11 from Hampton, and WTPC 21, a TBN affiliate out of Virginia Beach. Most Hampton Roads localities are served by Cox Cable which provides LNC 5, a local 24-hour cable news television network. Suffolk, Franklin, Isle of Wight, and Southampton are served by Charter Communications.[95]Verizon FiOS service is currently available in parts of the region and continues to expand, offering a non-satellite alternative to Cox. DirecTV and Dish Network are also popular as an alternative to cable television.

Norfolk is served by a variety of radio stations on the FM and AM dials, with towers located around the Hampton Roads area. These cater to many different interests, including news, talk radio, and sports, as well as an eclectic mix of musical interests.[96]

Norfolk serves as home to two professional franchises, the Norfolk Tides of the International League and the Norfolk Admirals of the American Hockey League.[97][98] The Tides play at Harbor Park, seating 12,067 and opened in 1993. The Admirals play at Norfolk Scope Arena, seating 8,725 or 13,800 festival seating, which opened in 1971.

The Peninsula Pilots play in the Coastal Plain League, a summer baseball league. The Pilots play in Hampton at War Memorial Stadium seating 5,125 and opened in 1948.[99]

On the collegiate level, four Division I programstwo on the Southside and two on the Peninsulafield teams in many sports, including football, basketball, and baseball; three currently play football in the second-tier FCS, while ODU recently moved up to the FBS football. The Southside boasts the Old Dominion Monarchs and the Norfolk State Spartans, both in Norfolk, while the Peninsula features the William & Mary Tribe in Williamsburg and Hampton Pirates in Hampton. W&M is a member of the Colonial Athletic Association. Norfolk State and Hampton, both historically black institutions, compete in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.[100][101][102][103] ODU joined Conference USA, an FBS football conference, as a full FBS member in 2015. The area also has two Division III programs, one in each subregionthe Virginia Wesleyan Marlins on the border of Virginia Beach and Norfolk,[104] and the Christopher Newport University Captains in Newport News. The Captains sponsor fourteen sports and currently compete in the USA South Athletic Conference,[105] but will move to the Capital Athletic Conference in July 2013.

The Hampton Coliseum, seating 10,761 to 13,800 festival seating, hosts the annual Virginia Duals wrestling events, and the annual Hampton Jazz Festival. The arena opened in 1970 and has previously hosted Hampton University basketball along with NBA and NHL preseason exhibition games.

Virginia Beach serves as home to two soccer teams, the Hampton Roads Piranhas, a men's team in the USL Premier Development League, and a women's team by the same name in the W-League. The Piranhas play at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex. The Virginia Beach Sportsplex, seating 11,541 and opened in 1999, contains the central training site for the U.S. women's national field hockey team.[106] The Sportsplex will be expanded to accommodate the Virginia Destroyers, an expansion franchise in the United Football League for the 2011 UFL season. The North American Sand Soccer Championships, a beach soccer tournament, is held annually on the beach in Virginia Beach.

Virginia Beach is also home to the East Coast Surfing Championships, an annual contest of more than 100 of the world's top professional surfers and an estimated 400 amateur surfers. This is North America's oldest surfing contest, and features combined cash prizes of $40,000.[107]

Langley Speedway in Hampton, seating 6,500, hosts stock car races every weekend during Spring, Summer, and early Fall.[108]

The Kingsmill Championship, an event on the LPGA Tour, is contested annually on Mother's Day weekend at Kingsmill Resort near Williamsburg.

The Norfolk Nighthawks were a charter member of the Arena Football League's minor league, af2. They ceased operations in 2003 after their fourth season. Also, the Virginia Beach Mariners of soccer's USL First Division were active from 1994 until 2006.

Hampton Roads has hosted many professional wrestling events throughout the years. The Norfolk Scope has served as the site of these events, including Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Destination X, World Championship Wrestling's Starrcade and World War 3, and WWF/WWE's The Great American Bash and the 2011 Slammy Awards.[109] Norfolk Scope was also the site of an infamous episode of WCW Monday Nitro, where several members of the World Wrestling Federation stable D-Generation X literally drove a tank to the entryway of the Scope, thus "invading" the competition. The Hampton Coliseum has also hosted many events, including RAW, in April 1998, August 2005, May 2007, January 2008, and July 2011, as well as SmackDown! and for ECW on Sci Fi on December 2006. In January 2008, WWE broadcast its first television show taped in high definition from Hampton, VA.

The Hampton Roads area is also home to at least one professional wrestling promotion, Vanguard Championship Wrestling, which holds events throughout the region, and has a weekly television show on the local Fox affiliate.

In 1997, Norfolk presented a proposal to bring an expansion hockey team to Hampton Roads. But that initiative failed. The team was going to be called the Hampton Roads Rhinos.

In 2002, Norfolk presented a proposal to bring the Charlotte Hornets basketball team to southeastern Virginia, but New Orleans won the bid for the team, renaming it the New Orleans Hornets.

In 2004, Norfolk presented a proposal to bring the Montreal Expos baseball team to the metro area, but Washington, D.C. won the bid for the team, renaming it the Washington Nationals.

In 1998, 2001, 2006, and 2010 Hampton Roads was hosting the AAU Junior Olympics.[110]

In 2012, there were talks of the Sacramento Kings of the NBA moving to a proposed new arena in Virginia Beach near the Oceanfront.[111]

Hampton Roads is 130 miles (210km) from the nearest major sports teams in Washington, D.C. and Raleigh, North Carolina. Another significant issue with the area as a sports market is internal transportation. The metropolitan area is split into two distinct parts by its eponymous harbor; as of 2012, the harbor has only three widely separated road crossings (the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel, and James River Bridge), each with two lanes of traffic in each direction. In addition, the area has two other major tunnels, plus several drawbridges on key highway corridors.

Hampton Roads previously hosted a successful franchise in the American Basketball Association, although it was never a full-time home for that team. Its highest-ranking teams as of 2012 are the Virginia Destroyers of the UFL, the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL, and the Norfolk Tides of the IL. Virginia is also the most populous state without a major team playing within its borders, though its northern reaches are served by the Washington clubstwo of which, the NHL's Capitals and NFL's Redskins, have their operational headquarters and practice facilities in Virginia. Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, through a separate company, owns two radio stations, WXTG and WXTG-FM, in the Norfolk market. The Hampton Roads television market is ranked 42nd in the U.S.

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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on a visit Thursday to Georgia that it is too early to tell whether the former Soviet republic will be invited to take the final step toward NATO membership.

NATO members voted in 2008 to accept Georgia as a member, but since then the South Caucasus nation has denied been entry into the Membership Action Plan, the last condition for membership.

NATO says Georgia must strengthen its institutions, step up justice reforms and fully respect the rule of law before it is accepted into the action plan. Tbilisi, however, claims that NATO is dragging its heels because of the frozen conflict in the breakaway republic of South Ossetia.

Speaking at the opening of a joint NATO-Georgia training center, Stoltenberg said Georgia already has "the necessary tools to continue to move toward membership."

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said the training facility would "in no way be directed against any of the neighboring countries," an apparent attempt to assuage Russia's fears about a NATO presence close to its border. Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war over South Ossetia in 2008.

Moscow reacted angrily to the ceremony in Georgia, saying that the NATO presence would tip the balance in the region.

"We consider this move as a continuation of the provocative policy of the alliance aimed at expanding its geopolitical influence," Russian Foreign Minister spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters in Moscow. "Placing this NATO military facility in Georgia will become a substantial destabilizing factor for security in the region."

Nataliya Vasilyeva contributed to this report from Moscow.

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NATO Chief: Too Early to Say If Georgia Joins NATO

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NATO service members fired back, killing the attackers, the organization's Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan said in a statement.

It didn't disclose the identities of the service members who were killed, saying that would be left to the relevant national authorities.

Afghan and NATO officials are still looking into the circumstances of the firefight, which took place early Wednesday at an Afghan security forces compound in the southern province of Helmand, the Resolute Support statement said.

It wasn't immediately clear if the attackers were members of the Afghan security forces or had obtained the uniforms by other means.

The Resolute Support Mission, which focuses on training and support of Afghan forces, replaced NATO's formal combat mission at the end of last year.

As of the end of May, it consisted of more than 13,000 troops from 40 different nations. The United States is the largest single contributor, with more than 6,000 service members.

Attacks against NATO's presence in the country are frequent.

Three American contractors with the mission were among at least a dozen people killed in a suicide bombing of a convoy in Kabul, the capital, on Saturday.

Earlier this month, an attack on a NATO coalition base in Kabul killed at least one American, a defense official told CNN.

CNN's Masoud Popalzai reported from Kabul, and Jethro Mullen wrote from Hong Kong.

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Da Wikipedia, l'enciclopedia libera.

Coordinate: 505234.16N 42519.24E / 50.876156N 4.422011E50.876156; 4.422011

L'Organizzazione del Trattato dell'Atlantico del Nord (in inglese North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in sigla NATO,[3] in francese: Organisation du Trait de l'Atlantique du Nord, in sigla OTAN), un'organizzazione internazionale per la collaborazione nella difesa.

Il trattato istitutivo della NATO, il Patto Atlantico, fu firmato a Washington, D.C. il 4 aprile 1949 ed entr in vigore il 24 agosto dello stesso anno. Attualmente, fanno parte della NATO 28 stati del mondo.

Il Patto Atlantico traeva origine dalla percezione che il cosiddetto mondo occidentale (costituito da Stati Uniti d'America, Canada, Regno Unito, Francia, Scandinavia, Italia ed altri Paesi dell'Europa occidentale), dopo la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, stesse cominciando ad accusare tensioni nei confronti dell'altro paese vincitore della guerra, ossia l'Unione Sovietica, con i suoi Stati satellite.

Iniziava, infatti, a svilupparsi nelle opinioni pubbliche occidentali il timore che il regime sovietico potesse "non accontentarsi" della spartizione geografica generata, al termine della Guerra, da varie conferenze di pace e che, radicalizzando i contenuti ideologici della societ, volesse iniziare una mira espansionista per l'affermazione globale dell'ideologia comunista. Ci gener un movimento di opinione che - anche grazie alle varie attivit in tal senso organizzate dagli Stati Uniti d'America - inizi a svilupparsi in modo generalizzato nei Paesi occidentali e che identific una nuova assoluta necessit di garantire la sicurezza del mondo occidentale dalla minaccia comunista; la NATO, quindi, rispondeva all'esigenza di allearsi e di mettere a fattor comune i propri dispositivi di difesa, per reagire "come un sol uomo" ad un eventuale attacco.

Tale sentimento ebbe una significativa spinta dopo i fatti di Berlino del 1948. La citt tedesca, simbolo del nazismo e Capitale della Germania hitleriana, dopo Jalta venne a trovarsi nel territorio della Germania Est, ossia sotto influenza sovietica, e venne suddivisa in 4 zone, tre delle quali controllate dai Paesi occidentali e la quarta (la parte orientale della citt) dall'Unione Sovietica. Berlino Est divenne Capitale della Germania Est.

Dopo alcuni mesi durante i quali i sovietici avevano iniziato a manifestare disagio e dissenso sulla situazione territoriale e logistica "anomala" di Berlino (enclave occidentale in territorio orientale), che permetteva alle genti sottoposte al regime socialista di transitare facilmente all'Ovest trovandovi rifugio, il 24 giugno 1948 decisero di chiudere il corridoio terrestre attraverso il quale Berlino Ovest era connessa al mondo occidentale, impedendo, di fatto, il suo approvvigionamento logistico: il successivo ponte aereo, organizzato dal mondo occidentale per assicurare la sopravvivenza della popolazione di Berlino Ovest, entrato nella storia.

La vicenda dell'"assedio" a Berlino Ovest, fece naturalmente forte impressione alle popolazioni occidentali e, di fatto, rese matura la decisione di istituire un'Alleanza del mondo occidentale contro la minaccia sovietica.

Il concetto informatore di questa nuova "Alleanza" era quello della "difesa collettiva", riportato nell'Art. 5, che recita:

Questa misura era concepita in modo tale che se l'Unione Sovietica avesse lanciato un attacco contro uno qualsiasi dei paesi membri, questo sarebbe stato trattato da ciascun paese membro come un attacco diretto, ed era rivolta soprattutto a una temuta invasione sovietica dell'Europa occidentale. Le trattative si svolsero tra i firmatari del trattato di Bruxelles (Regno Unito, Francia e Benelux), Stati Uniti, Canada, Norvegia, Danimarca, Islanda, Portogallo ed Italia. L'Unione Sovietica protest vivacemente, affermando la natura aggressiva nei suoi confronti del Patto. Da l a pochi anni essa avrebbe dato vita ad un'Alleanza militare contrapposta alla NATO: il Patto di Varsavia.

La creazione degli organi politici dell'Alleanza Atlantica impieg circa un anno di lavori, tra il maggio 1950 e lo stesso mese del 1951; nelle riunioni a Londra ed a Bruxelles i ministri degli Esteri si accordarono per la creazione di un Consiglio Permanente, dotato di potere esecutivo, affiancato da tre comitati, di difesa economica e finanziaria, di difesa e militare, inglobati poi nel Consiglio Permanente nella conferenza di Londra del maggio 1951.

Con la nascita del Patto di Varsavia inizi la "Guerra fredda", cos definita in quanto, in realt, mai combattuta sul campo, ma per la quale i due blocchi prepararono i loro dispositivi militari in modo cos meticoloso e credibile che fu sviluppato il concetto di "pace armata" (attuato anche con armi nucleari potenzialmente distruttive per l'umanit intera). Dopo la caduta del muro di Berlino, che simboleggi la fine del socialismo reale e soprattutto dell'URSS, la NATO ha radicalmente cambiato la sua visione strategica, avviando un processo di radicale trasformazione. Dopo i fatti dell'11 settembre 2001 avvenuto un nuovo cambiamento nelle strategie dell'Alleanza, che adesso, a processo di trasformazione ormai compiuta, si configura come l'organizzazione mondiale principale per la lotta effettiva al terrorismo internazionale.

Il disposto dell'art. 5 del Trattato, mai attuato durante la Guerra fredda, venne invocato per la prima volta nella storia il 12 settembre 2001 dagli Stati Uniti, in risposta all'attacco terroristico del giorno precedente a New York.

Motivo: Questa sezione esprime, in alcuni passaggi, alcuni giudizi.

Dalla caduta del muro di Berlino in poi, la NATO ha progressivamente perso la propria caratteristica di "Alleanza Difensiva" per orientarsi sempre pi come un ambito di collaborazione militare tra Paesi aderenti. Dopo gli eventi dell'11 settembre 2001, gli Stati Uniti hanno richiesto l'intervento dell'Alleanza sulla base dell'Art. 5 del trattato. In linea generale, la NATO oggi rappresenta l'organizzazione militare pi utilizzata per l'imposizione del pieno rispetto della Carta dell'ONU e delle norme e convenzioni di Diritto umanitario e di Diritto bellico, delle risoluzioni del Consiglio di sicurezza dell'ONU relative a situazioni di crisi di importanza globale.

I principi generali che regolano le attivit dell'Alleanza sono mutati nel tempo, adattandosi ai continui cambiamenti del panorama geopolitico internazionale, ed attualmente possono essere riassunti nei seguenti punti:

L'art. 10 del Trattato del Nord Atlantico descrive come gli stati possano entrare nella NATO:[7]

Questo articolo pone due limiti generali agli stati per l'accesso:

Il secondo criterio significa che ciascun stato membro ha diritto di veto, ovvero pu decidere di porre delle condizioni per l'ingresso di un paese. In pratica la NATO ha formulato un insieme di criteri-base che devono essere soddisfatti per aspirare all'accesso, ma in alcuni casi ci possono essere dei criteri aggiuntivi. I casi pi importanti sono:

Non invece mai stato un criterio riconosciuto quello secondo cui la NATO non si sarebbe estesa ad Est se l'URSS avesse consentito la riunificazione della Germania: questa rivendicazione russa[8] del contenuto di un colloquio tra Gorbacev e James Baker, infatti, non mai stata accettata dalla diplomazia USA[9], che anzi negli anni Novanta sfid l'irritazione russa propiziando l'ingresso della Polonia, dell'Ungheria e della Repubblica Ceca nell'Alleanza.

Come procedura per i paesi che vogliono aderire (pre-adesione) esiste un meccanismo chiamato Piano d'azione per l'adesione o Membership Action Plan (MAP) che fu introdotto nel vertice di Washington del 23-25 aprile 1999. La partecipazione al MAP prevede per un paese la presentazione di un rapporto annuale sui progressi fatti nel raggiungere i criteri stabiliti: la NATO provvede poi a rispondere a ciascun paese con suggerimenti tecnici e valuta singolarmente la situazione dei progressi.

Questi paesi sono all'interno del MAP:

previsto che entrino nel MAP i seguenti paesi:

L'altro meccanismo di pre-adesione il Dialogo intensificato o Intensified Dialogue che visto come passo precedente prima di essere invitati al MAP.

I paesi attualmente in questa fase sono:

Un doppio schema tecnico-diplomatico di accordi stato creato per aiutare la cooperazione tra i membri NATO e altri "paesi partner".

Il Partenariato Euro-Atlantico, o Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), fu creato il 27 maggio 1997 al vertice di Parigi ed un forum di regolare consultazione, coordinamento e dialogo tra la NATO e i partner esterni. la diretta conseguenza del partenariato per la pace. I 23 paesi partner sono:

Ex Repubbliche sovietiche:

Paesi neutrali con economia di mercato durante la guerra fredda:

Paesi neutrali con economia socialista durante la guerra fredda:

Paesi "in attesa":

Il Partenariato per la pace o Partnership for Peace (PfP) fu creato nel 1994 ed basato su relazioni individuali e bilaterali tra la NATO e il paese partner: ciascuno stato pu decidere l'intensit della collaborazione. stato il primo tentativo di dialogo della NATO con paesi esterni, ma ora considerato il "braccio operativo" del partenariato Euro-Atlantico. costituito in maniera principale, da membri operativi della NATO, ad esempio, membri START1991, e collaborano in tema di giustizia, per garantire i principali diritti internazionali, come i patti Bilaterali tra stati nel mondo, svolgono in tema politico-sociale la cooperazione al sostentamento umanitario. La sua azione operativa permette in diversi ambiti, quali sociale, politico, economico, giuridico, medico, ingegneristico, scientifico, artistico, la tutela e la conservazione di diritti umani nel mondo, promuovendo la cultura pacifica nei popoli.

Come gi detto, la NATO rappresenta non soltanto una mera iniziativa di cooperazione militare, ma si configura come fondamentale strumento di collaborazione politica tra i Paesi membri, soprattutto nell'ambito dei processi decisionali afferenti materie di politica estera.

Per questo motivo, la NATO ha una duplice struttura: politica e militare. In linea con quanto accade normalmente nell'ambito dei Sistemi istituzionali democratici dei Paesi membri, anche in questo caso la parte militare ha una posizione subordinata rispetto a quella politica, che, nelle sue diverse articolazioni, espressione diretta della volont dei popoli dei Paesi membri.

L'Alleanza governata dai suoi 28 Stati membri, ognuno dei quali ha una delegazione presso la sede centrale della NATO a Bruxelles. Il pi anziano membro di ciascuna delegazione chiamato "Rappresentante permanente". L'organizzazione politica della NATO basata sulla regola del consenso unanime e comprende:

L'organizzazione militare della NATO articolata in vari comandi con sedi nei diversi paesi membri. Al vertice costituita da:

formato dai rappresentati militari dei Paesi membri ed ha il compito di decidere le linee strategiche di politica militare della NATO. Provvede inoltre alla guida dei comandanti strategici, i cui rappresentanti partecipano alle sedute del Comitato, ed responsabile per la conduzione degli affari militari dell'Alleanza. Il rappresentante militare l'altra figura rilevante della delegazione permanente dei Paesi membri presso la NATO ed un ufficiale con il grado di generale di corpo d'armata o corrispondente che proviene dalle forze armate di ciascun paese membro.

Dal Military Committee dipendono:

I membri della NATO sono attualmente 28. Di questi, 22 sono anche membri dell'Unione europea, mentre 24 di questi sono membri a vario titolo (membri effettivi, membri associati, paesi osservatori, partner associati) dell'Unione dell'Europa Occidentale (UEO) che con il Trattato di Lisbona passata sotto il controllo UE. Per questo negli ultimi anni il peso dell'UE andato sempre pi in crescendo nelle decisioni NATO. Di seguito l'elenco dei 28 membri:

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NATO - Organizzazione del Trattato Nord Atlantico (fonte ...

NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is an international alliance that consists of 28 member states from North America and Europe. It was established at the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. Article Five of the treaty states that if an armed attack occurs against one of the member states, it should be considered an attack against all members, and other members shall assist the attacked member, with armed forces if necessary.[1]

Of the 28 member countries, two are located in North America (Canada and the United States) and 25 are European countries while Turkey is in Eurasia. All members have militaries, except for Iceland which does not have a typical army (but does, however, have a coast guard and a small unit of civilian specialists for NATO operations). Three of NATO's members are nuclear weapons states: France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. NATO has 12 original founding member nation states and from 18 February 1952 to 1 April 2009 it added 16 more member nations.

NATO has added new members six times since its founding in 1949, and since 2009 NATO has had 28 members. Twelve countries were part of the founding of NATO: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1952, Greece and Turkey became members of the Alliance. In 1990, with the reunification of Germany, NATO grew to include the former country of East Germany. Between 1994 and 1997, wider forums for regional cooperation between NATO and its neighbors were set up, including the Partnership for Peace, the Mediterranean Dialogue initiative and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. In 1997, three former Warsaw Pact countries, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland, were invited to join NATO. After this fourth enlargement in 1999, the Vilnius group of The Baltics and seven East European countries formed in May 2000 to cooperate and lobby for further NATO membership. Seven of these countries joined in the fifth enlargement in 2004. Albania and Croatia joined in the sixth enlargement in 2009.

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Member states of NATO - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Published August 12, 2015

A think tank warned Wednesday that an increase in the scale and number of military exercises undertaken by both NATO and Russia is increasing the chance of a European conflict.

Ian Kearns, director of the London-based European Leadership Network, told The Associated Press that the war games are contributing to a climate of mistrust" that have "on occasion become the focal point for some quite close encounters between the NATO and Russian militaries."

Kearns is one of the co-authors of an ELN study, looking at two military exercises held this year by Russian and NATO. The study found signs that Russia is preparing for a conflict with NATO, and NATO is preparing for a possible confrontation with Russia.

The exercises can feed uncertainty and heighten the risk of dangerous military encounters, according to the ELN.

Relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated since Russias annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last year. The ELN study said NATO plans approximately 270 exercises this year, while Russia has announced 4,000 drills at all levels.

Russias March exercise involved 80,000 personnel, while NATOs Allied Shield in June mobilized 15,000 people from 19 NATO countries and three partner states.

The study said the exercises showed what each side views as its most vulnerable points: For NATO, it's Poland and the Baltic states while for Russia, concerns are more numerous and include the Arctic, Crimea and border areas with NATO members Estonia and Latvia.

The ELN has formulated a few ideas to defuse tensions, including for governments to examine the need for more restraint in the size and scenarios of future exercises.

"History is full of examples of leaders who think they can keep control of events, and events have a habit of taking on a momentum and dynamic of their own," said Kearns.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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NATO, Russia military drills fuel risk of war, study ...