NATO Summit in Ankara Unlikely to End Alliance's Decline

The upcoming NATO summit in Ankara is expected to fail in reversing the alliance's decline. The US plans to operate from a 'second row' in Europe, maintaining control while reducing its direct involvement. The scale of US demands remains enormous, putting pressure on European allies. Military alliances typically form to counter a threat; when the threat disappears, they either dissolve (like the Warsaw Pact) or undergo a functional transformation and eventually end (like the Western European Union). The WEU's predecessor, the Brussels Pact, was founded in 1948 by France, the UK, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands to counter a perceived Soviet threat and a revisionist Germany. It was renamed the WEU in 1954 and expanded to include Germany and Italy. Both countries soon joined NATO. The WEU's main function was to control West Germany's armaments. The article suggests NATO may face a similar fate.