24 NOVEMBER 2024 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL in invoking Article 5. Elated, I called Condi Rice, who was still at work in a darkened White House at 4 a.m. in Washington, D.C. I told her I needed the president’s instruction, given the stakes involved, to vote to invoke Article 5. She said the president was getting some badly needed rest following a terrible day, but that he was all for it, and I should vote accordingly. I said I would take that as my presidential instruction and rush down to NATO’s Conference Room 1 to raise my hand in favor for the U.S. Before I could hang up the phone, Condi said to me, “One more thing. It’s good to have friends in the world.” I’ve never forgotten her words, and I think of them on every anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, including the one just past. America remains the world’s strongest military and economic power. What truly separates us from China, Russia, and other adversaries, however, is that we have friends in the world, democratic allies in the North Atlantic and Indo-Pacific who share our interests and values. They are America’s difference makers in the global balance of power. During the past three years, I’ve watched from U.S. Embassy Beijing as the Alliance has united again, as we did on 9/11, this time to stand up for an embattled Ukraine against a malevolent foe in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. NATO is the greatest alliance in modern history and is as vital to us now in its 75th year as it was at its creation at the dawn of the Cold War. The lesson we’ve learned as one of its founders and leaders is that Americans need not live alone in the world in bitter isolation as we have chosen too often in the past. NATO is essential for our own security and to achieve our supreme national interest in a united, democratic, and peaceful global order in Europe and beyond. R. Nicholas Burns is the U.S. ambassador to the People’s Republic of China. During his 30-year career at the State Department, he has served as under secretary of State for political a airs, ambassador to NATO and to Greece, State Department spokesperson and special assistant to President Clinton, and senior director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia a airs at the National Security Council. Fortunately, It Did Not Go Out of Business in 1991… By Robert E. Hunter Si Dieu n’existait pas, il faudrait l’inventer. —Voltaire NATO is not as important as God, but it also can’t be dispensed with: at least not if its member states are to meet responsibilities for their security and other national interests—political, economic, and social. For the United States, a stable, secure, prosperous, and democratic Europe, with unimpeded access and engagement across the Atlantic, is a sine qua non; it’s also necessary for pursuit of U.S. interests in other parts of the world, including Asia. Politically and instrumentally, for the United States nothing can substitute for a strong, robust, and effective NATO, which is the most important linchpin of U.S. foreign policy and enjoys the American people’s bipartisan support. Likewise, for Europe writ large, America’s continued engagement in Europe is necessary to underpin cooperation across the continent and is an indispensable safety net. America and NATO are also critical for dealing with the great unknown, Russia’s future. These are the basics. To understand NATO’s continuing importance on both sides of the Atlantic, it’s first necessary to reject the once-popular but erroneous notion that the Alliance lost all purpose when the Cold War ended. It did not; but it did have to adapt to meet radically changed circumstances. Its transformation has involved several key elements, most importantly keeping the United States committed as a permanent European power, continuing to exercise leadership. Other elements have included: 1. Preserving the best of the past, especially NATO’s unique integrated military command structure and its offshoots (military, civilian, public, and private), plus the invaluable quality of institutional inertia; Americans need not live alone in the world in bitter isolation as we have chosen too often in the past. —Ambassador R. Nicholas Burns
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