April 11, 2024

Looking Back at 75 Years of NATO

In this panel discussion, three experts discuss how NATO morphed into a global linchpin of instability and a failed vehicle of US power projection.

Katrina vanden Heuvel

On April 4, 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded in Washington, DC. To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the world’s largest military alliance, the American Committee for US-Russia Accord and The Nation’s publisher, Katrina vanden Heuvel, convened a panel with Kyoto University’s Neutrality Studies featuring three reputable thinkers on international relations: Jack Matlock, the last US ambassador to the Soviet Union; professor John Mearsheimer, one of the world’s preeminent realist thinkers; and Anatol Lieven,renowned journalist and senior fellow of the Quincy Institute.

Katrina vanden Heuvel

Katrina vanden Heuvel is editor and publisher of The Nation, America’s leading source of progressive politics and culture. An expert on international affairs and US politics, she is an award-winning columnist and frequent contributor to The Guardian. Vanden Heuvel is the author of several books, including The Change I Believe In: Fighting for Progress in The Age of Obama, and co-author (with Stephen F. Cohen) of Voices of Glasnost: Interviews with Gorbachev’s Reformers.

More from The Nation

Tech overlord Peter Thiel, in a more cosmically sanguine moment, addresses a cryptocurrency conference in 2022.

What’s Really Behind Peter Thiel’s Panicked Move to Argentina What’s Really Behind Peter Thiel’s Panicked Move to Argentina

Some tech observers think that the Palantir overlord sees the end times coming, but his real motivation is likely much more mundane and self-interested.

David Futrelle

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the White House on April 6, 2026.

How We Can Build an Alternative Future to Trump How We Can Build an Alternative Future to Trump

Trump’s ad hoc coalition is weaker than we think.

William D. Hartung

Naples Gaza Shroud

Naples Gaza Shroud Naples Gaza Shroud

Street protest.

OppArt / Al Jazeera

Students attend a rally to protest ICE in lower Manhattan

An Uncertain Future for NYC Student Activism An Uncertain Future for NYC Student Activism

A controversial bill is proposing that NYPD create a plan for instituting anti-protest buffer zones around many NYC schools.

StudentNation / Ilana Cohen

In the Race to Succeed Nadler, Micah Lasher Says Fighting Trump Is Not Enough

In the Race to Succeed Nadler, Micah Lasher Says Fighting Trump Is Not Enough In the Race to Succeed Nadler, Micah Lasher Says Fighting Trump Is Not Enough

The state assemblyman wants to go to Congress to take on MAGA, but says that Democrats need to show Americans that they are “gonna make their lives better. Quickly.”

Joan Walsh

Ukrainian soldiers from the 30th Brigade fire with Bohdana artillery at Russian positions in the Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on May 31, 2026.

Stalemate or Escalation in Ukraine Stalemate or Escalation in Ukraine

With the war in Ukraine grinding into stalemate, the danger is no longer breakthrough but escalation beyond anyone’s control.

Anatol Lieven