Dear Members of NATO,
In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed for the express purpose of protecting its members from Soviet attack. According to the Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, United States Department of State, the formation of NATO was in direct response to the concern among the nations of Western Europe that the Soviet Union would exploit the atmosphere of post-war rebuilding by insinuating itself into the external and internal affairs of reconstructing countries:
In 1947–1948, a series of events caused the nations of Western Europe to become concerned about their physical and political security and the United States to become more closely involved with European affairs. The ongoing civil war in Greece, along with tensions in Turkey, led President Harry S. Truman to assert that the United States would provide economic and military aid to both countries, as well as to any other nation struggling against an attempt at subjugation. A Soviet-sponsored coup in Czechoslovakia resulted in a communist government coming to power on the borders of Germany. Attention also focused on elections in Italy as the communist party had made significant gains among Italian voters.
In the run-up to NATO, according to the U.S. Department of State, “Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg signed the Brussels Treaty in March, 1948. Their treaty provided collective defense; if any one of these nations was attacked, the others were bound to help defend it.” Across the pond, President Truman was busy working on ways the United States could lend its considerable resources to the protection of Western Europe:
At the same time, the Truman Administration instituted a peacetime draft, increased military spending, and called upon the historically isolationist Republican Congress to consider a military alliance with Europe. In May of 1948, Republican Senator Arthur H. Vandenburg proposed a resolution suggesting that the President seek a security treaty with Western Europe that would adhere to the United Nations charter but exist outside of the Security Council where the Soviet Union held veto power. The Vandenburg Resolution passed, and negotiations began for the North Atlantic Treaty.
Nearly a year’s worth of negotiations eventually produced the NATO Treaty in 1949. According to NATO Review, “[the NATO Treaty] invites the Treaty signatories to work together to defend their interests from threats emanating from any source, anywhere in the world.”
Dear NATO allies, after neary 70 years of partnership and cooperation toward common goals, the United States must ask for help. The United States is under institutional, economic, social, and cyber attack by Russia as a resurrection of the government of the former Soviet Union. Through the co-opting of willing actors within the United States government, including the president of the United States, Russia is carrying out the most blatant subversion of American order in our nation’s history. We must call upon you to exert every resource at your disposal to help us maintain the rule of law and the foundations of our democracy. This is well within the charter of NATO, and with each passing day the peril to America’s standing as a world leader in democracy grows exponentially.
There is a reason Donald Trump regularly insults and disrespects the members of NATO. Member nations, rightfully alarmed that Trump will impel the United States to abandon its agreement to protect them against Russia’s aggression, naturally become disenchanted with the U.S. This is exactly what Vladimir Putin is hoping for, as a nation separated from its allies is vulnerable to influence and invasion. Please do not believe that the United States wants to abandon NATO. On the contrary, we need this treaty now more than ever as traditional, visible threats (military) evolve into new, more insidious threats (cyberwarfare).
In response to the attacks on America on September 11, 2001, NATO invoked Article 5 of the treaty, which 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.
Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.
Though conventional armaments are not a factor in the current attack against American democracy, it can be argued that cyber warfare is a form of weaponized aggression worthy of an organized, collective response.
The words of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, standing together as one on the press podium yesterday, must trigger the invocation of Article 5 of the NATO Treaty. Please, NATO allies, look beyond our corrupt leader and into the heart of our very nation, and help us.