DAY2:
What is NATO???
NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, is an intergovernmental military alliance established in 1949.
It was formed with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949 by 12 member states – Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the UK and the US.
Since then it has expanded to 28 member states, with countries including Germany, Spain, Greece and Turkey joining, and represents a population of more than 900 million people.
The organisation is considered to be the largest and most powerful military alliance in history.
Heads of government and state have met at 26 Nato summits since 1949 – the one before Watford's was held in Poland.
@The Grove Watford, England – NATO leaders will tell U.S President Donald Trump today how much they are spending on their militaries in the hope that he pares back his attacks on the Western alliance.
Yesterday at the Buckingham Palace reception, The Queen hosted President Trump and other Leaders to celebrate 70 years of NATO.
Despite Trump’s accusations on Tuesday that allies were “delinquent” in their failure to spend as much as the United States on their armed forces, Europe, Turkey and Canada will use the gathering at a luxury golf club north of London to argue they will spend $400 billion (£312 billion) collectively on defence by 2024.
“If we invest money and risk our soldiers’ lives… we should be clear on NATO’s fundamentals,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter, adding that on Wednesday he would “defend the interests of France and Europe.”
That is likely to include a push to broaden NATO politically to consider a bigger role for the alliance in the Middle East and possibly Africa, although Berlin and Paris must first seek NATO support for a “wise persons” group to draw up reform plans….
