To the Editor:

Our fathers and grandfathers fought in World War II to save the world from Nazi domination. Over 60 million people died in that war. There had been a European war about every 30 years for the last couple of centuries. After WWII, American leaders decided to make sure it would never happen again. The key to preventing another World War was NATO.

NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was formed as a military alliance of European and North American democracies to serve as a counter-balance to the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. Today NATO is just as important as it was in 1945.

 Gen. James Mattis, the new Secretary of Defense, said at his confirmation hearing, “If we did not have NATO today, we would need to create it.” It was clear in 1945 and it is clear today that Russia is our main adversary in the fight to create a world governed by democratic principles and the rule of law. Gen. Mattis called Russia “the principle threat” to the United States and he said, “I have very modest expectations about areas of cooperation with Mr. [Vladimir] Putin.” Russia sees NATO as the chief obstacle to its divide and conquer method of expansion.  

 Today, Russia is on the march to recreate the old Soviet Union. In March of 2014 they took by military force Crimea, the territory in Ukraine. This was the first time since the end of the WWII that a border in Europe had been changed by military force. Sanctions were imposed on Russia for this act of war. Through the use of cyber warfare, propaganda and social media, Russia has been attempting to destabilize every country in Europe. It is not clear if the Russian interference made any difference in our election, but it is clear they tried.

 Since WWII, we have been the world leader in opposing the forces of tyranny and oppression. The relative peace and prosperity we have enjoyed in the last 70 years is a direct result of the unity and power of NATO and similar alliances. Now, with a casual tweet calling NATO obsolete, our world leadership is in question.

Louis Vitale

Franklin