Yes, Nato has a new vitality. But its united front could collapse when it has to deal with Russia | Jonathan Eyal

In Madrid, the organisation showed a great sense of purpose. But beware a divided Europe and a US still tired of paying for the continent's security

Most summits bill themselves as historic" and those who attend invariably talk about forging a new consensus". But Nato's Madrid summit can credibly make such claims, for there is no question that a military alliance that only a few years ago was famously dismissed by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, as brain dead" has regained vitality and reaffirmed its strategic purpose.

As the alliance's secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, put it, Nato's decision to increase its rapidly deployable troops to at least 300,000 to deter any further Russian aggression constitutes the biggest overhaul of our collective deterrence and defence since the cold war".

Continue reading...