Destroying Peace Since 1949. NATO: Anatomy of a Bad Idea | A. Lieven, J. Matlock & J. Mearsheimer

Originally published on 2 April 2024.

On April 4, 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was founded in Washington DC. To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the worlds largest military alliance, we hosted a panel with three iconic IR thinkers.

Jack Matlock—the last US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Professor John Mearsheimer—the World's most renowned realist thinker, and Anatol Lieven—the Quincy Institute's finest journalist, are our guests. The panel was convened by the American Committee for US-Russia Accord and Catharina vanden Heuvel, the former Editor in Chief of the Nation Magazine together with Neutrality Studies.

In this talk, the three realists explain how NATO after the Cold War has morphed into a global linchpin of instability and a failed vehicle of US power projection.