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Countries have - of their own free will - joined NATO for the security it provides against aggression.
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Countries have - on government decision - joined an aggressive military alliance which has waged war across the ME and Central Asia for 30 years. NATO is not defensive, it is dominated by the US, Germany and UK, three imperialist powers which are responsible for most of the military violence of the past 120 years.
The great shame is that NATO was not dissolved after the dissolution of the USSR.
Article 5 does not protect any country, or security or safety, it just guarantees that any war provoked by any member will become a euro-wide war .
