defense, and of course you can get all the latest news and information any time you want on our website at www dot com. i'm terry martin from me and all of us here at dw, thanks for watching the on the long voyage through the ocean. another humpback well with the cost for a long time, they had to be a humans on that journey. now the trenches have become very protective of whales until the results of the ocean conservation. the stats of tend to sold on dw, the nato . the north atlantic treaty organization was formed to 75 years ago. it's

aimed to prevent more between solver and countries, the 75 years of europe and history without a war. that's the ultimate expression of a successful alliance. then on february 24th 2022, russia launched a full scale invasion of ukraine. war had returned to europe. ukraine itself is not a needle member, but russia's actions have prompted the question. is the western military alliance capable of defending itself? how strong is nato among european members? especially, there are some glaring weaknesses. please. your again, security is basically 90 percent dependent on the us. and this isn't themes from that's 27, is that count handled medium sized missions on their own. and this documentary

we'll hear from people who know nato from the inside. we cannot guarantee that we could protect munich frankfurt. berlin can do it, found that in the aftermath of the 2nd world war, nato achieved the unimaginable over time. former enemies became partners. i think this is fascinating. there were also german officers who are part of nato's command structure, who had been fighting against the americans and the british in the 2nd world war. 75 years after its founding nato's importance is now greater than it has been since the cold war. around the world, there's an increasing focus on military mike, the me, it's not just pressure, but also china and the middle east. i think saudi arabia has tripled as ground for

existence. 2010. so put the iphone and what about nato? we took a holiday from reality and now we're dealing with the consequences of the the this is moans in belgium is a city of about 100000 residents, 70 kilometers from the capital brussels. the it's home to one of the most well protected buildings in the world. nato's military headquarters, the supreme headquarters allied powers, europe for shape,

for short. it's a central hub for vital security information around the clock. everything from movements and the, or the defense alliance as borders to suspicious activity worldwide, the abilene, rob bower, chairs, the nato military committee, he acts as a link between the political world and the military. the alliance is there enough for 75 years and we went from 12 to not almost 32 members. so that in itself, i would say is the proof that this alliance adds value otherwise. so many nations would not have joined when it was founded after world war 2, nato consisted of 12 countries. its goal during the cold war was to contain communism and prevent the soviet union and the eastern block from expanding their influence. over time, 20 more countries have joints, nato,

including former eastern bloc states. today, the alliance stretches from the arctic ocean in the north, to turkeys border with syria in the southeast, and from the baltic states on russia's border across the atlantic to the us and to canada. it is the world's largest defense alliance, providing security for 1000000000 people. and yet nato itself has no troops of its own. the way it is constructed is that the nato is basically 3 things. it is command and control. it is standardization. the end of this exercises and the troops come from the nations, the southern states, all $31.00 seem to be $32.00. and so once nations give their troops to nato,

for an exercise, for an operation or for collect a defense. once that has been done, then the supreme allied commander, your general canolli, is in command of those forces and he can use them within the mission that he's been given. the traumatic effect of military conflict with a key factor in establishing nato. the, i think that it's essential to recognize that nato is created and founded in the aftermath of the 2nd world war. and so the war and its destruction loom over all of the people involved in these decisions. so many of these men,

and they're almost all men in this story, early in nato's history, had fought in either the 1st or 2nd world war or played a role. and so part of nato's founding is about making sure that war doesn't happen again. so many of the people believe that what they're doing in creating nato is presenting a return to war in europe. when the alliance was found, it had no military structure, no command center. first and foremost, nato was a promise. the, i think it's important recognize that when the treaty was signed and 1949, it was a symbolic treaty. it was a political symbol that these 12 states were going to protect each other and work side by side. on april, 4th, 1949 heads of government,

foreign ministers, and senior diplomats from 12 countries gathered to sign the north atlantic treaty in washington, dc. the agreement had just 14 articles, but if there is anything starting today, if there is anything in the future, it is the will of the people of the world of freedom and far p just a few months later in august 1949, the soviet union designated its 1st atomic bomb with that the us no longer had a monopoly on nuclear weapons. and the arms race gathered speed. the soviet union became the west number one enemy. with nuclear weapons in use, any provocation could have meant the end of the world as we knew it the

. and yet at the time, the greatest fear of nato's founders wasn't a direct attack by the soviet union. it was one canadian historian, timothy andrews and sail calls the weakness of democracy. the particular worry in the late 19 forties see was that the experience of the 2nd world war had been so devastating and so traumatic for the people of europe that they would not be willing to fight for their state or for their national interest in the future. the worry was that if the soviet union were to mobilize its forces or stage exercises or somehow flax its military muscle, then perhaps the citizens in european countries would ask their leaders to give in

to whatever the soviet demands or the millions of deaths during the 2nd world war were front of mine, and according to the historians, theory democracies leave themselves open to blackmail because they trying to keep the peace at all costs. they tend to offer compromises and give in to pressure by being a part of nato. and by being a part of the alliance, the leaders felt that they could go to their people and say we're part of something bigger. and in the aftermath of the war, when leaders did not think that their people would ever be willing to fight again. it was very important to show this group strength today, 75 years after nato was founded. for as once again, being fond in europe, the world's biggest military alliance has had to ask itself. if worse came to worst, how well would it be able to defend itself?

the whole nation is have to make sure they can defend themselves. that's article 3, and we have basically neglected that for many years. so somebody, for example, prison has greatly reduced its land forces. germany does have land forces, but them not necessarily compatible with other um, forces. phones has nuclear weapons, but far too few of them compared to russia is new to us no sense. after the cold war, the emphasis on collective defense faded more and more needles focus shifted to operations in afghanistan and libya, and the so called war on terror. of them i am that's also once we had overseas missions that required small and mobile units of armed forces, klein will be used. these are sent abroad for very, very specific tasks abroad. the ship for in the crest of response operations time

is on our side. we decide are we going to have got to stop and when and with how many forces and for how long. but in collect a defense. but as for very might at tech you, and then you are ready for your not the alliances weaknesses are now becoming a parent. nato has grown to include the $32.00 countries. that's $32.00 sovereign states, which means a whole lot of bureaucracy. being able to deploy troops quickly can be decisive in war, but in europe, that's a big job. despite the you and the shing and free movements. from 2014 to 2017 lieutenant general. ben hodges was the commanding general of us troops in europe. the so you know, you can take a truck, load of apples from poland to portugal,

never be stopped. he could drive all the way through. i can't do that with military . and i had troops that were up in the baltic countries in poland, small numbers. and um, and i noticed that my ab ation, that helicopter unit was their maintenance readiness level was going down. and i asked my commitment, aviation brigade commander from onbox said, why are they not repaired which taking so long. and you said so we, we cannot get the maintenance parts from onbox to live order. it takes weeks. i said what i was not here. i just assumed driving from onbox to lou verda, that would be like um, being on the interstate $95.00 in the us from florida to virginia. you mean your it's all nato countries, all e u countries. what's the problem? and that's when we realized that there was a problem moving military equipment across borders through the different nations

you had to have permission. nato is aware of the problem. since 2021, it's been operating what it calls joint support and enabling demand for jason, based in the southern german city of the j 6 main role is to come through with the bureaucratic red tape when it comes to troop deployments. its commander is lieutenant general alexander as little funk the, i'm the food honest up to we have a federal structure and was wanting to split into that means you have to get states with different governments working together. as enough. i'm with audit. there are forms that need filling out which are very thorough and still very from nation to nation to set something we're working on see to see if they've done missing. see then you have to consider things like customs regulations. for example,

for animal disease prevention is to usefully appropriate box it, but to move tanks across germany, you have to put them on a train quickly or put them on the back of the one of these large trucks. we don't have enough of these trucks to carry tanks so you need to what you bought. but in peace time, don't you mind is not just calling us that they should just stop doing an intake tank. so having to work through these process, this is very tedious. is not sexy. me, this is the all the thoughts barracks and bavaria, southeastern germany. tomorrow the soldiers are travelling to lithuania. on behalf of nato, the the

tanks will be transported to lithuania by train. even the trip to the railway station requires meticulous coordination. the, the route is along the highway. they have a precise window to make the journey from the barracks to the train station. everything must happen before rush hour. across europe, there are bridges that were built in the recent decades of peace time. so little thought was given to whether they could bear the weight of heavy military equipment . the tanks must cross these bridge one at a time. every german rage remembers inc. still see in western germany, the yellow assigned that has the weights. this bridge will hold, and i mean, everywhere in west germany, you have the sense. you don't have that as you go further to the east, the each unit being sent to

nato's eastern flank and lithuania takes its own equipment, the that way. procedures and movements can be practiced and internalized the just kind of mind thoughts like i know my vehicle has what i mean. i know what falls that has or doesn't have to have this done to our maintenance partner hill. what can do things like send a severe parts like the way that's tied enough to send it to the when the banks and the previous receipts and where it belonged to other companies. so it's very, yeah, you know, it's like having a car. have you tried your root and you don't just swap it, but someone else is in the alternate room to talk to somebody about the name of j sac is to create a kind of common military zone, akin to europe's border free shang, and area in the future nato wants to be able to deploy 100000 soldiers in 10 days. right now, it takes 15 days to deploy less than half that number. and it's not just about the

soldiers themselves to be, i'm, i don't know. we've just seen this with the war and you drain, a land will eats up incredible amounts of resources. ukraine supposes are really struggling just to produce enough ammunition. they've scoured all the existing stock calls and used everything. i go to post defrosted ones that skipped finishing them in according to calculations. an average of $50000.00 artillery rounds are currently being fired per day and the rest of the ukraine war will test most those munitions have to be produced as fun. so you mostly have to be on hand to go to minutes, you'll see a german ammunition needs to also fit in dutch barrels, and some of them it has to be distributed to depos somewhere in europe, in a logical way, when itemize, it hopefully will never needed the see, but it's part of have incredible deterrence of it as you're tied to

a cloud pretty much trickle j sec is also responsible for ensuring sufficient ammunition supplies in case of a direct attack. lieutenant general adults funk and his international team use simulations to practice for that. eventually, how much equipment is available to troops in a given place? where are their shortfalls? how much fuel is needed? which roads and bridges can they use? and where might the team have to improvise? where are the most strategic locations for weapons depos? here at j sec headquarters, every conceivable conflict scenario is played out. most importantly, everything that's planned here has to be achievable at any time. up should i come and look what then will deterrence only works if our plans and preparations are credible, precise? in other words, it has to work in the event that we have to defend ourselves, newton county. that's in order to do what we all want to do,

namely prevent war saying, i have to, for example, be able to manage this re deployment of large bodies of troops and piece time, of course. and so before the 1st shot is ever fired, i can make it clear to the opponents that they are going to fail. okay, awesome. just so i think at 1st everything goes to plan for the soldiers from bavaria on their way to let the mania the loading process is completed. but then there's an unexpected delay due to a rail strike, the train is only able to travel a few kilometers 3 days later, it's still in bavaria, nato headquarters and brussels, where crucial political decisions are made. in the event of an attack on a needle member states,

this is where leaders would decide whether to invoke article 5 in the nato process. article 5, of course, is the article of the washington treaty that is most well known armed attack them on she'll be considered an armed attack on, everybody knows about article 5, but that's not a, a laser beam. like if you go to the store in, in the door automatically opens up, there is no automatic trigger for article 5. if these are constantly being consultation in which all nature member states would have to agree to officially consider article 5 acceptance and put it into effect to the cost of such decisions must be made unanimously by all members. and countries such as germany and the united states military operations also have to be approved by parliament or congress. you remember last year there was a missile that landed inside poland and killed 2 poems. and if this was an

automatic thing that you, somebody could've said no. so hit suppose the russian missile hits inside poland. article 5, of course the, the people involved in the process involved are mature enough to say, wait a minute, we need let's, let's check and see what happens in the beginning. that idea that article 5 would compels other allies to fight to defend one ally was the hope of the british and the french and the canadians. that the, that's what they wanted article 5 to say. but the united states would not have that because it took way the power of congress to declare war. the problem is that the more countries there are more individual interests come into play. if just one member state refuses to consent, article 5 folders. we have 3200000 soldiers that need to know what to do.

so it's not enough to say no and need a war in a crisis. if you're a tech, you can say no, but we're still a tech. so we need a solution. so as somebody says, no, then we expect from bets, nation that says no simple during that if yes, the nato allows for what's called constructive extension. this means that the alliance can be invoked even if not, everyone agrees. but a no vote would be a problem. in the case of an attack, if we have one nation, says this is we do not support. this is article 5. then the other nations can still act in a multilateral way, but it won't be under a nato construct. so this will be a problem. and yet the foundational ideas behind nato, our community and solidarity. the in the 19 fifties and into the

sixty's. there was a real effort to try and connect the people of the nato countries with each other. and so things like educational exchanges and study tours and professional associations were considered to be very important and building up that solidarity within the alliance. and so a lot of american officials to spend a lot of time thinking about how to build those relationships, not just between the leaders, but between people in that era. such exchanges often began with presenting the typical customs of a given country. the milk buzzer aches and cheese cheese made by special formulas and spills passed down from generations of peasant cheese make producing delicacies like cold back. come them their famous throughout the world, the archive of

material legs. it shows nato's early years, educational films, from a pre globalized era made by the organizations own press office. the focus wasn't on weapons or military maneuvers. instead, individual member states were introduced through their traditions and culture. these films weren't intended for the public. they were shown to soldiers before they were stationed in a different country, part of pre deployment training to help answer questions like, what are they like over there? what can we expect the and i think this is fascinating. there are also german officers who are part of nato's command structure, who had been fighting against the americans and the british in the 2nd world war. so these men, ad 5 beside each other in some cases, had fought against each other and then worked to build this alliance together. during the cold war, the

nato base is already existed in federal, germany, and that one of them and international jet pilot school men from the united kingdom, from western germany, and the united states, and the arm of france and those of italy, we're going to train together in 1955, just 10 years after the end of the 2nd world war, west, germany was admitted to nato. but despite the emphasis on community, the fear of being abandoned by one's own allies is as old as nato itself. the, this idea that, and maybe some of the allies would just sit back in a war was constantly on the mind of leaders throughout the cold war with the united states. really defend western europe. if in response to the soviet

union would fire nuclear missiles at the united states. and so it's from the late 19 fifties on that. this balancing act becomes extremely difficult. the very same year that the federal republic of germany joined nato. vin chancellor, call nevada on no, i asked experts for a legal opinion. he wanted to know how binding article 5 really was. in other words, what was washington's obligation if germany were to be attacked? the lawyers, assessments both the question of whether an attack has occurred and the question of the nature and the extent of the assistance to be provided or at the discretion of the united states. which suggests that any country is free to decide whether or not to stand by an ally remedy. i take the 1st cons, article 5 makes you think, oh, not satisfy attack of nato member state. then all the other $31.00 are going to come and smack me down. i'm of the month. but if i really read it in detail,

what it says is each member promises to send a check on another nato member state as an attack on themselves. and that's the, that's the sales. and sometimes some websites are they might just say yes, i see it as an attack on me, but i still won't do anything on the chancellor calling about an hour did not want to rely on article 5. he opted for a different kind of guarantee stationing of us soldiers on west german soil. for i'm, that was, they were the real safe guard. one of the reasons it was so important to have american, british and canadian forces in europe was that they served as something of a trip wire for article 5 or 4 the other allies to come to the aid of europeans or germany. especially if it were. if the federal republic was attacked is a very important political signal,

because no american political leader is going to allow some american troops to get caught up in a war or a small conflict without the totality of us power coming to join that fight. this is woke law and lithuanian soldiers from several nations have been stationed here since 2017. they're a part of nato's multinational battle groups after russia annex crimea, from ukraine in 2014. these small mobile units were set up under permanent nato command. their station to long nato's eastern border. estonia, lafayette lithuania and poland. the strength of each battle group is $1000.00 to 2000 soldiers and further battle groups have been added since rushes full scale invasion of ukraine in 2022. in slovakia. hungry, romania and bull guerria. germany is responsible for

a battle group in lithuania, near the swell key gap, a 100 kilometers stretch of the lithuanian, polish border between bella roost and the russian escalade of colon and grad. nato believes it's what a russian attack would be. most likely. colonel klaus paid to a bag r. as in command of the german contingent station here in lithuania, protested objectively speaking full size from russia and better, ruth, all no longer present in the kind of strength we saw before, the wall in ukraine, the cliff to many forces have been withdrawn. and the point in ukraine are coming up if you so objectively we can say that when not currently under any acute trent mod done the splintering, the german soldiers from the barracks in bavaria have now arrived by plane. but their tanks are still in transit and the evening

there is a flag ceremony symbolizing the change over of troops. while some are heading home after 6 months, the others are left with an important task, demonstrating loud and clear that nato won't abandon lithuania in the event of armed conflict. so it's lisa wayne. yeah. is it that it's not only or this radio, but it is our soldiers that are working there. and therefore, it is maybe not seen by people as dutch soil and dutch or german soil. but it is our soldiers that work there and are going to be attacked. it's the same principle that called nevada anela relied on security isn't guaranteed by the famous article 5, but by the international make up of a military presence. using these types of the german armed forces here already

function. and so it's, but at the same time that showing the list you ain't in, people look and so we're here standing alongside, you show that to shown to sort of what it is we can't forget that it wasn't totally the americans who guaranteed on security during the cold war and it was several allied countries. you could say when now repaying the favor. we're helping to pass on, luckily, experienced in the past, in terms of security and protection and fruits, for via to make sure that i come rates here in lithuania and in the other baltic states all supported in protecting nato's eastern frank. bye, i'm sure it's under another struggle. difficult to develop. the nato's defense policy is seldom popular before russia's war in ukraine approval of nato and the united kingdom was 59 percent in germany. it was 54 percent. and in france,

just the 39 percent. even more dramatic were pulling results regarding article 5 and the obligation to defend allies prior to the war in ukraine, only 32 percent of french respondents were in favor of providing military support to nato member romania if it were to be attacked by russia and just 14 percent of german said they would want to stand by nato member turkey in the event of a russian attack. but the truth is support for nato has always fluctuates even during the cold war. in west germany, for example, the 1980. so a big piece movement that lead other nato countries to wonder, just how reliable the germans were as allies, the leaders who

built nato. and then the leaders who maintain nato are frequently talking behind closed doors about germany and their worries about what germany will do in the world. and this takes one of to pass. so one argument earlier in the cold war is this fear that germany is going to try and establish itself as an independent, strong power in europe. and that this will be a return to the 1st half of the 20th century. and that motivates a lot of years in the 19 fifties and 19 sixties. and then there's a switch from the 19 sixty's on. there is a fear and a worry that perhaps the germans no longer wish to be powerful at all. this is a period when there are major demonstrations in germany against nuclear weapons, against nato, against the united states forces in germany. and that sentiment still persists in parts of the population today. the it

is now this as easy as i think a whole lot of people in germany have very happily being in an intellectual, political, and economic comfort zone palm. the motto has been, let's have a rush year is doing in syria or georgia or ukraine isn't nice, but it has nothing to do with us over this happened. it was me support a lack of solidarity and no common vision. in 2019 the year of the alliance is 70 at the anniversary french president. and by the way, my call went so far as to say, nato was experiencing brain deaf hyphen bronze is a problem with nato has always been that they want more from it. not less, that's how my cause, comment must be understood. perhaps has consistently been one of the allies saying, we almost do more than what we're doing this, you know, to my home criticized what he saw as

a complete lack of common strategy within nato. it's been doris. thank god. for a long time, jeremy had a kind of fighting hard attitude towards anything involving conflict. i think that's why i'm exxon gave a wake up call. it's not just about money or soldiers. it's about asking. can you even imagine the worst case scenario? because if not, you'll be truly helpless as it happened, its maximum subsequent. 2 days later than planned, the tanks arrive in lithuania. but before they finally reached the barracks, there's one more hurdle to clear. a few kilometers shy of their destination, the tanks have to be re loaded onto another train. the tracks and some eastern european countries have different gauges and aren't compatible with those in western europe.

in the defense situation, the trains would have been here on tight stripe wouldn't have happened and the german real operator would have gotten them here on the schedule. it's not until the next morning that the tanks finally had to where they will be stationed for the next 6 months. they drive the last few kilometers along country roads. so there will be german kindergartens, schools and supermarkets built in the region. that's because a new german brigade will be permanently stationed in lithuania, operational by 2027, about 5000 soldiers and their families will live here. the move is part of nato's defense strategy to prevent russia from attacking other former soviet countries after ukraine. that's especially a concern in the baltic states, unlike and ukraine. here, it would constitute a direct attack on nato territory. the

me, there are also conflicts between russia and nato on the cyber level. and investigation published in 2023 and revealed the bulk and files leak and the existence of hacking centers working for the russian government. the revelation showed how moscow was trying to destabilize the west via the internet. nato's response to this new threat can be found in the estonian capital talent close to the russian border. this is the cooperative cyber defense of the center of excellence. so nato in general has acknowledged a significant incentive board and soul 5 cyber cyber attacks and declared in 2021 that in certain cases. so well that the effects of cyber uh cyber effects. the

cyber attacks against the nato nations can tweak our natal article, finds that means collective defense and response might not be lead me despite cyberspace. only the alliance as top cyber professionals meet to your regularly to practice for emergency situations. the annual lock shield simulation involves defending a fictitious country from a cyber attack. so it can be called like say, with championship or island picks or 5 or defenders every year. and the purpose of it, this is to have the smoking, national environment where to most complex uh, and then the on the simulated, the environment, the ac used. like in real case when a nation is under a cyber tech. another annual simulation crossed swords took place in december

2023. it involved responding to a threat or with a counter attack. the those taking part had to disable a power plant tech surveillance cameras and obstruct a rail network. the points were awarded for each hacked server, and the winner was determined at the end. ukrainian experts also took part in the simulation. meanwhile, just over a 1000 kilometers to the south, russian hackers actually shut down ukraine's biggest telecoms operator for several days. after the soviet union does on eastern european countries left the eastern bloc and gradually joined nato. in 1999 poland to the czech republic and hungary became members. 5 years later, estonia, latvia, lithuania, bulgaria, romania, slovakia, and slovenia followed. albania and croatia joined in 292017 k montenegro,

and in 2020 north macedonia, became the last country to join nato before the war. and ukraine. why is it that so many nations at work that are former soviet republics, such as estonia, that being left when you or former members of the worst i'll pack like poland. why did they seek to join nato as soon as they possibly could? why does ukraine want to do it now? is because they know what is like to be under russian control. some people say that by expanding nato toward russia, that we were committing a form of aggression that we were threatening russia. i can tell you because i was there in the george h. w bush administration. when the warsaw pact collapsed and then when the soviet

union union disintegrated, central and eastern european countries were pounding on nato's door, asking admission. they had been dominated by the soviet union since the end of world war 2. they wanted to be free, and they wanted to be with what they saw as like minded countries in the west. we didn't do any recruiting to add to nato membership. all of the countries that joined, opened the process themselves, the

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this is the, the, the news coming to live from berlin. rock obama buyers up the crowd at the democratic convention in chicago, putting capital harrison, putting a couple of harris twisting on his trademarks slope. yes. of the test and that address and support of the presidential hopefuls also coming up, russia, recruits new soldiers and conscript says ukraine's cross border incursion. ships the narrative of the war. but some russian families are concerned about what it could mean for the plus jewish communities.