The Foreign Service Journal, April 2009

A P R I L 2 0 0 9 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 15 nformed Americans have never doubted that NATO has always been devoted to the defense of Europe. The “North Atlantic” in the treaty organization’s name refers to the indispensable presence in the Alliance of the U.S. (and Canada), and the extension into the Cold War era of the trans-Atlantic lifelines thrown to Europe dur- ing both World Wars. Yet among European publics in the post–Cold War present, NATO appears to be mostly about the United States F O C U S O N NATO AT 6 0 S TILL THE B EST V EHICLE FOR E NGAGING WITH E UROPE D ESPITE SHIFTING PERCEPTIONS AND GEOPOLITICAL EQUATIONS , THE A TLANTIC A LLIANCE REMAINS A POWERFUL TOOL FOR BUILDING ON 60 YEARS OF COMMON DEFENSE . B Y G ERALD L OFTUS Jean Francois Podevin I