Argentina formally requested on Thursday to join NATO as a global partner, a status that would clear the way for greater political and security cooperation at a time when the right-wing government of President Javier Milei aims to boost ties with Western powers and attract investment.
The request came as NATO's Deputy General Secretary Mircea Geoana held talks in Brussels on regional security challenges with visiting Argentine Defense Minister Luis Petri.
Geoana said he welcomed Argentina's bid to become an accredited partner in the alliance — a valued role short of “ally” for nations that are not in NATO's geographical area and not required to take part in collective military actions. NATO membership is currently limited to countries of Europe, Turkey, Canada and the United States.
Argentina formally requested on Thursday to join NATO as a global partner, a status that would clear the way for greater political and security cooperation at a time when the right-wing government of President Javier Milei aims to boost ties with Western powers and attract investment.
The request came as NATO's Deputy General Secretary Mircea Geoana held talks in Brussels on regional security challenges with visiting Argentine Defense Minister Luis Petri.
Geoana said he welcomed Argentina's bid to become an accredited partner in the alliance — a valued role short of “ally” for nations that are not in NATO's geographical area and not required to take part in collective military actions. NATO membership is currently limited to countries of Europe, Turkey, Canada and the United States.
The current nato charter doesn’t allow new members who have irredentist territorial disputes with another member. Of course, they could always change this, but that’s like saying my church could join nato if the members unanimously agreed.
Argentina should probably work on fixing the Mercosur first. That is a lot more relevant to them than NATO. And it would certainly be more useful economically than ramping up their military spending to match NATO standards. Which they are nowhere close to today.
Of course if they are dead set on being in NATO they can always drop their claims to the Falkland Islands. That would do the trick.
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A fool can throw out more questions than a wise man can answer. -RZehr
Ken wrote: ↑Fri Apr 19, 2024 6:42 pm
Argentina should probably work on fixing the Mercosur first. That is a lot more relevant to them than NATO. And it would certainly be more useful economically than ramping up their military spending to match NATO standards. Which they are nowhere close to today.
Of course if they are dead set on being in NATO they can always drop their claims to the Falkland Islands. That would do the trick.
And at some point, countries with a history of bellicosity who want to join NATO so that... the next time they pick a fight with their neighbours and get invaded, they want the U.S. to foot the bill for their defence. No thanks.
Ken wrote: ↑Fri Apr 19, 2024 6:42 pm
Argentina should probably work on fixing the Mercosur first. That is a lot more relevant to them than NATO. And it would certainly be more useful economically than ramping up their military spending to match NATO standards. Which they are nowhere close to today.
Of course if they are dead set on being in NATO they can always drop their claims to the Falkland Islands. That would do the trick.
And at some point, countries with a history of bellicosity who want to join NATO so that... the next time they pick a fight with their neighbours and get invaded, they want the U.S. to foot the bill for their defence. No thanks.
I don’t think we have anything to worry about. Argentina would need to get their military up to NATO standards such that Argentinian units are capable of operating interchangeably with other NATO units (communications, command structure, logistics, equipment standards, etc.) That would basically mean rebuilding their entire military from the ground up. Which isn’t going to happen for a country as deeply in debt as Argentina. Otherwise it is like a HS football player joining an NFL team. They are more of a hindrance than a help and accomplish nothing but get in the way.
0 x
A fool can throw out more questions than a wise man can answer. -RZehr
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