Come July, NATO allies will gather in Vilnius for their second summit since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his genocidal war of aggression against Ukraine. There’ll be 31 of them this time, after Finland joined the club in direct response to Putin’s bellicosity. What should they decide?
One way or another, every discussion will touch on Putin. The neo-Tsarist, imperialist, irredentist and atavistic threat he represents menaces not only non-NATO countries such as Ukraine or Moldova but also NATO allies including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. And while some items on the Vilnius agenda may seem uncontroversial, others pose dilemmas that could prove fiendish — depending on the success or failure of Ukraine’s expected “spring offensive.”
The easiest category should be resources. NATO needs more. So the allies should reach a binding agreement to spend at least 2% of gross domestic product on their militaries — an arbitrary benchmark, but a necessary discipline. NATO must also have more say where that money goes. One country might be told to build fewer submarines, another to invest more in fighter jets, and so on. The goal must be to face eastward toward the Kremlin not as a ragtag horde, but as one coherent and coordinated fighting force.
