To Put it bluntly, if NATO, the military arm of the transatlantic alliance, had not existed in the post-September 11th world, would anyone be seeking to invent it? Not in its present form, it has to be said. But though the dangers facing Americans and Europeans have changed, the need for collective defence against them has not. The next terrorist attack could strike Berlin or Paris as easily as New York or Washington. These and other threats, in an age of far-flying missiles, could come from anywhere. So NATO needs to be better prepared to deal with them, ready at times to venture beyond its European stomping grounds. In other words, if it is to soldier on usefully, the alliance needs to reinvent itself. The new design is needed by its next summit, in Prague in November.
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