Opinion: Nato summit: How a fractured alliance is fuelling a permanent war economy

The Nato summit held in Ankara this week was, by any measure, a gathering of an alliance under profound and perhaps irreversible strain. 

Hosted by Turkey, the summit took place against the backdrop of an active US-Israeli war on Iran, a grinding conflict in Ukraine, a rupturing transatlantic relationship, and a European defence establishment determined to turn crisis into cash. 

Whatever unity was performed for the cameras, the fissures running through Nato have never been deeper.

Let’s begin with the most fundamental question: what is Nato’s purpose, and who does it serve? The alliance has long papered over a basic contradiction - that it is simultaneously a collective defence pact, and an instrument of American strategic will. 

That contradiction became impossible to ignore when, on 28 February, the US and Israel launched a unilateral war on Iran without consulting a single European ally. US President Donald Trump was furious when his partners declined to join. 

Read more: Nato summit: How a fractured alliance is fuelling a permanent war economy Opinion by Anas Altikriti