Vasil Levski's phrase is well-known “We are in time and time is in us“. Human history has one irrevocable rule. Everything has a beginning and an end. It does not matter whether it is an individual person, a country or an organization.
This principle is also applicable to an institution interesting in its presence in international relations - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It was created in April 1949 and unites the countries of the so-called Western bloc, led by the superpower USA. This military organization is a counterpoint to the Warsaw Pact - the identical organization in the Eastern Bloc with the superpower Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
In the context of the bipolar confrontation, this configuration was relevant until 1991, when with the collapse of the socialist system and the USSR, the next stage of the restructuring of the global and regional space was passed. The political, economic and without a single shot victory of the Western world predetermined the logical processes in the countries of Eastern Europe.
The imposition of democracy in these countries goes through the destruction of the economy, education, healthcare and security, subordinated to the main goal - elimination of competition. By 2004, Eastern European countries became members of NATO, but their presence in the Pact is on the principle of the poor relative - dependent, controlled and obedient.
Until 2025, NATO exists as an institution, led militarily by the United States and politically by Europe. Initiatives and decisions are taken and implemented under the leadership of Washington. The North Atlantic Treaty does not have an independent role. The presence of military personnel from various member states of the Alliance is manifested in Washington's military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 21st century.
The coup d'état in Ukraine and the return of the Crimean peninsula to Russia in the first months of 2014 increased the importance of NATO. Over the next decade, the processes in Ukraine, especially after Russia's special military operation in February 2022, filled the activities of this organization with purpose and content. The numerous military exercises in Ukraine's neighboring countries are an attempt to increase the combat readiness of NATO armies on the Old Continent.
Over the past four years, the main activity of the Pact has been the sending of all types of old military equipment to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, aimed at weakening the Federation and eliminating it as a serious military factor in the global and regional plan. This policy has been consistently and steadily led by Washington. This is a predictable model of decisions and behavior that ends with the term of US President Joe Biden.
The beginning of the second term of the new President Donald Trump (January 2025) has seriously tested the existence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The US President's request to increase the military spending of each of the NATO member states to 5% of GDP has posed a serious challenge to them. Another challenge is Donald Trump's periodic threats to withdraw the United States from NATO. In recent months, he has consistently accused the Pact's member states of not supporting Washington in the war against Iran.
The disagreements between the US and the other countries were fully manifested at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey in early July 2026. This meeting became a kind of emanation of an organization that had exhausted its capabilities and goals. The contradictions are manifested both in the increasing disagreement of individual countries to increase their military budgets, and in the reluctance to participate in the “Coalition of the Willing“ related to NATO's policy towards Ukraine.
The numerous meetings in different formats within the European Union and NATO reveal insurmountable disagreements and the absence of a sustainable program for the future of the Pact.
It is striking that once again the thesis of the increasing danger of an impending war with Russia is being confirmed. The belligerent political rhetoric, as well as the contradictory statements regarding the place and role of Ukraine in the plans of the EU and NATO, increase the feeling not of security and protection, but of multidirectional and contradictory positions that are an expression of weakness, not strength.
The cheerful promises of building military plants, producing military equipment, and building a stable European military front in the coming years that will successfully eliminate Russia as an enemy and aggressor do not sound convincing. The threats of the US president to withdraw from NATO are manifested not only in threats, but also in actions. A landmark in this direction is the US refusal to support Ukraine with funding and military equipment. Even the Patriot air defense systems promised by Trump to Zelensky remain in the realm of wishful thinking.
The latest evidence of the instability and disagreements in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is the summit meeting of the countries of Southeast Europe in Kiev in mid-July 2026. The Atlantic phraseology and the latest promises presented through the Declaration adopted by ten countries increase the feeling not of unity and security, but of growing contradictions that cannot be silenced by Euro-Atlantic politically correct rhetoric.
36 years after the collapse of the socialist system, a natural process of exhaustion of the existential essence of the military antipode of the Warsaw Pact is observed. The laws of history are inexorable. The transformation of forms and institutions inevitably changes, which is a natural step towards the next development of humanity.