It is important that NATO has survived for so many decades, but staying alive can’t be the standard for judging success. Real success comes from serving the concrete interests of the members of the alliance.

Never in the years since the Cold War has the United States looked less like a leader of the world and more like the head of a faction — reduced to defending its preferred side against increasingly aligned adversaries

This vital question looms large in Washington partly because it was not squarely debated during NATO’s enlargement.

Washington Must Choose Between Primacy and Prioritizing.

A healthy democracy ought to be able to develop and debate its national-security options honestly, openly and vigorously.

Centering U.S. foreign policy on this principle is destabilizing abroad and divisive at home.

So long as imperialism guides Kremlin policy, the West’s response has to be some version of containment.

Since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, President Biden has presented himself as a statesman humbled and enlightened by his own country’s missteps after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The United States engaged Russia on secondary matters while antagonizing it on vital issues.

But if Ukraine joins the alliance, NATO will have to engage in serious military planning in ways it did not for the Baltic states.

Advocating for Kyiv’s membership doesn’t make sense without addressing Article V guarantee credibility.

But Russian aggression was the impetus for the new membership bids.