The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit is commencing today in The Hague, Netherlands. The eyes of the world are on this meeting of the 76-year-old military alliance. Discussions are expected to cover the Russia-Ukraine War and the Israel-Iran conflict, but this military alliance of America and European countries is currently facing its most challenging period. Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to withdraw the US from NATO.

The United States and its allies formed NATO to counter the influence of the USSR (Soviet Union, now Russia), a country with a communist ideology, and to unite nations with capitalist ideologies. The Soviet Union was accused of assisting in the establishment of communist governments in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, and of electoral manipulation. The Soviet Union aimed to dominate the Black Sea by exerting pressure on Turkey and Greece, thereby controlling global trade. The US, UK, and France accused the Soviet Union of spreading communist ideology across Europe. These actions by the USSR were perceived as acts of aggression by Western nations.