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Nato countries depend heavily on authoritarian suppliers of consumer goods and fuel. They allow competitors to run large trade surpluses which their state capitalist system often turns into a weapon against Western companies

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Nato's biggest enemy hides within

Nato remains the most powerful military alliance, but in terms of its core political values it has never been so vulnerable.

Discussions about increasing the military budget or responding to the ambitions of other powers will be in vain if the members of the alliance do not rediscover what they are supposed to defend, or, as the North Atlantic Treaty makes it clear: "the freedom, common heritage and civilisation of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liber...

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The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s, not those of EUobserver

Author Bio

Jonathan Holslag teaches international politics at the Free University Brussels and guest lectures at the NATO Defense College. His latest book is World Politics since 1989 (Polity, September 2021).

Nato countries depend heavily on authoritarian suppliers of consumer goods and fuel. They allow competitors to run large trade surpluses which their state capitalist system often turns into a weapon against Western companies

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Author Bio

Jonathan Holslag teaches international politics at the Free University Brussels and guest lectures at the NATO Defense College. His latest book is World Politics since 1989 (Polity, September 2021).

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