NATO focus of library's Great Decisions program

Mar. 11—A program on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the treaty that established it was the focus of the "Great Decisions" program last week at the Tahlequah Public Library.

Margot Purdy, one of the regular attendees of the regular discussion group, went to her first Great Decisions talk when she was in high school and remembers the topic was the Democratic convention in Chicago. The film and discussion that Purdy learned the most from in the current list of topics was on the Mideast realignment.

"The reading was challenging on that one and on tonight's — NATO — I learned so much that I just didn't know," she said.

There is a lot of talk about NATO, Purdy said — especially with presidential hopeful Donald Trump talking about pulling out of it — and it's helpful to know the history of NATO. All decisions made by NATO have to be unanimous, she said.

"Like the entry of Sweden [last Thursday] into NATO. Hungary and Turkey were holdouts for a long time," Purdy said.

Every country must commit to investing 2% of its Gross Domestic Product in the military. The U.S. is the only country that has been attacked and invoked Article 5, and that was after 9/11, Purdy said.

Article 5 of the NATO treaty states: "The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area."

According to the local library's website, "Great Decisions is an annual program that is hailed as America's premier discussion program on global affairs." Eight topics are chosen for discussion each year by a panel of experts. After watching the film of the week, a discussion is held between the attendees on what was learned.

In the film, the origins of NATO were explained. There was no consensus of what kind of alliance should be developed following World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt believed the threats the world would face were unknown and that cooperation was needed among the major powers, especially the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

Winston Churchill and FDR's Vice President Harry S. Truman believed the main threat would be the Soviet Union. Rather than a general organization like the United Nations, as favored by FDR, Churchill and Truman preferred a military alliance aimed at Moscow.

After the U.N. was established in 1945, plans began immediately for the creation of NATO, which came into existence in 1949.

"Every time a new member is added, the treaty has to be amended or changed, and that requires every existing member to sign off on it," states the film.

The Soviet Union collapsed following the Cold War, and the Soviet Union was the justification for NATO. With the USSR gone and the Red Army in disarray, in the 1990s, there were three options on what to do with NATO.

Option one was to end the alliance; option two was leaving it in place, waiting for Russia to reemerge as a threat to central Europe; and three, a new NATO that could do things the old NATO could not do.

The decision was made to revamp NATO, but at the same time keep its whole purpose of disallowing Moscow from outward expansion, states the film.

You're invited

Three more discussion groups are scheduled at TPL this year, from 6-7:30 p.m.: March 21, "Understanding Indonesia"; March 28, "High Seas Treaty"; and April 4, "Pandemic Preparedness." People can participate online eols.beanstack.org.