Ten years in NATO

People of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland celebrate 10 years of being in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an international organization founded after the World War II for ensuring collective defense of its members. To mark the decennary anniversary and discuss the alliance’s perspectives the Czech Senate is holding a conference named NATO Enlargement Ten Years On: Achievements, Challenges, Prospects.

Many citizens of above mentioned Eastern European countries – both politicians and common people – believe that NATO is the best protection against possible threats like international terrorism and unstable situation in Russia. Many of them still remember Soviet tanks thundering along the streets of Prague and Budapest.

The results of a new poll announced recently by the CVVM agency show that 65 percent of Czech participants are pleased with their country’s membership in NATO. This is the highest level of people’s satisfaction since the start of conducting this survey in 1999.

NATO’s chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in his speech in Budapest make on Thursday outlined the current challenges faced by the alliance. They are situation in Afghanistan, piracy, cybercrime, energy security and relationship with Russia discontented with NATO's eastward expansion (Moscow is especially unnerved by possibility of admitting Georgia and Ukraine). Meanwhile, in April this year Albania and Croatia will became two new members of the alliance.

Image: NATO expansion, by Kpalion (wikimedia.org)