The Debate – Is NATO up to the challenge? Putin’s war tests alliance’s resolve

Issued on: 11/07/2023 – 20:14

Kyiv’s made it clear – if the organization provides the weapons, Ukrainian soldiers will do the fighting. But Ukraine lacks the ammunition and air superiority needed for a quick kill in a counteroffensive that’s up against greater Russian manpower and solid trenches.

For Ukrainians, it’s life or death. But for NATO, is there the same war effort urgency?

We’re talking about an organization founded four years after the end of World War Two, when it quickly became clear that victorious allies were no longer allies but nuclear-armed rivals. 

The likes of France and Germany have boosted defense spending by multiples unseen since the Cold War… but are Europeans and Americans ready for the long haul, an industrial-scale war effort over years and deterrence that in a crisis could mean putting soldiers in harm’s way?

Produced by Charles Wente, Josephine Joly and Imen Mellaz.