Jeremy Shapiro, The Straits Times (USA)
September 2020: Nato began gloriously 71 years ago, with the signing of the Washington Treaty by the august representatives of 12 nations committed to defend each other in perpetuity. Technically, the organisation still exists. The treaty is still in force; the 28 members of the alliance are still pledged, in theory, to defend each other against aggression; think-tank conferences continue to endlessly debate "whither Nato" in ornate assembly halls; Georgia still publicly holds to its ambition of joining the alliance in some distant future.