As originally billed, the summit looked likely to be a humdrum affair. But a meeting of the NATO alliance in Newport in south Wales on September 4th and 5th, intended to mark the end of combat operations in Afghanistan, now looks likely to be one of the most important gatherings in the organisation’s 65-year history. From the moment in March when Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, sent his troops into Crimea, thus beginning the first forcible annexation of territory in Europe since the second world war, it has been clear that NATO is back in the business it was created for: collective territorial defence.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
The Economist: NATO flexes its muscle memory
Multinational Special Operations Forces (SOF) fast-rope from a Blackhawk UH-60 helicopter onto a floating platform at a demonstration in Tampa, Florida, May 2014.
