Facilitated by Rick Levitt

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has come under increased scrutiny, not because NATO troops are involved in the conflict, but because of its role in relations between Russia and its neighbors. NATO may have been constructed as a military alliance, but it functioned most effectively as an expression of political unity (that’s how Stalin saw it, anyway). Has it outgrown that role?  Has its expansion affected its essential nature?  What about the changing domestic environment in its leading member? Will expanding membership in NATO protect countries, or will it further provoke Russia?