May 25, 2013
The week's top five must-sees,
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The week's top five must-sees,
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Description
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia, joined in April 2009. An additional 22 countries participate in NATO's "Partnership for Peace", with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programs. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the world's defence spending.
For its first few years, NATO was not much more than a political association. However, the Korean War galvanized the member states, and an integrated military structure was built up under the direction of two US supreme commanders. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, which formed in 1955. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the organization's goal was "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down." Doubts over the strength of the relationship between the European states and the United States ebbed and flowed, along with doubts over the credibility of the NATO defence against a prospective Soviet invasion—doubts that led to the development of the independent French nuclear deterrent and the withdrawal of the French from NATO's military structure in 1966.
(via Freebase)
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![Iraq seeks to enhance military capabilities after US withdrawal [Al-Iraqiya TV, Iraq]](/images/image_cache/base-1316000/1316413/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=127ad72827b8082796e0417d31ac632c)
![US confirms NATO radar base in Turkey has begun operation [Press TV, Iran]](/images/image_cache/base-1245000/1245504/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=29268d60e393c1ee867742f986e4260a)
![Suicide bomber hits Afghan airport amid Quran backlash [Al-Alam, Iran]](/images/image_cache/base-1209000/1209190/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=31a5c55e73fd18304b3ad4617853b5d4)
![Afghan violence rages over Quran burning [Press TV, Iran]](/images/image_cache/base-1067000/1067146/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=ecd73cd30f84819d2087c582b48a6179)
![Men in police uniforms kill two NATO soldiers in Kandahar [Press TV, Iran]](/images/image_cache/base-995000/995543/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=e5f1b93b61e1f4f15924c699e2a0e025)
