Forget, for a moment, the family squabbles at last week's NATO summit in Madrid. Look instead at this dowager through the long-focus lens of history. Hardly had Hitler been dispatched to the fieriest part of the netherworld than the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. drew a new line in the sand. By 1948, they had become mortal rivals. When the common enemy disappears, so does the glue that bonds nations into an alliance to overcome that enemy.
Old conflicts resurface, new conflicts emerge.
The strategic threat from the East is gone, and yet there are more nations who want to join than the alliance is willing to take. The first answer is Russia. So, NATO continues to provide insurance, if also at a much lower premium than its members were willing to pay during the cold war. The second answer is Bosnia. The third answer is Europe.