COMMENT | There are two notions, both widespread, about Central and East European countries’ membership in Nato. 

The first is that “Nato has been expanding East, for instance into Poland”, and the second is that Nato is, in fact, obsolete since the Warsaw Pact was dissolved after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

It seems logical - if the West’s main threat is gone, what is the point of keeping Nato? In reality, both notions are false. Here is why.

Let us start with the apparent parallelism between Nato and Warsaw Pact. Both organisations emerged at the end of the Second World War in the specific historical circumstances at that time.

In 1945, the whole of Central and Eastern Europe had been conquered by the Soviet Army and was politically subjugated by the USSR despite the...