US Ambassador to Hungary David B. Cornstein has written a compelling article for Magyar Nemzet on the 70th anniversary of the NATO alliance.
The ambassador wrote that together, the members of NATO will be stronger and better equipped to remain the guarantor of peace and prosperity in the next 70 years and beyond.
NATO is the most effective alliance in history as in the past 70 years it had provided its members with the longest, safest and most prosperous era in their history, Cornstein wrote. NATO's main strength lies in the fact that it has remained true to its founding values: democracy, individual freedom, human rights and the rule of law.
NATO marked the 70th anniversary of its founding on April 4th, the day when in 1949 its twelve founding members signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, D.C. The alliance has since been joined by 17 further states. Hungary - together with the Czech Republic and Poland - joined the group in 1999, with Slovakia in 2004.
In his article, Cornstein quoted U.S. President Truman who at the time of the signing said its members were "not only seeking to establish freedom from aggression and from the use of force in the North Atlantic community, but we are also actively striving to promote and preserve peace throughout the world.”
Cornstein also listed the new challenges and threats faced by NATO, beginning with terrorism, Russian hybrid warfare and cyber activities, the aggressive economic and political expansion of China and those posed by "nations like Iran and North Korea, both of which have unpredictable leaders and nuclear ambitions."