North Atlantic Treaty Organization...What Do We Know?

     What do we know of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization--NATO?
     NATO is one of the organizations spoken of in discussions of how the no-fly zone over Libya will be implemented.  Yet, just as with the Arab League, it seems we have a nebulous sense of NATO.
      The implementation of the no-fly zone--the likely involvement of NATO leads me to ask basic--very basic--questions.  First, when was NATO founded?  Where is it headquartered?  Who were its founding members?  Who are its current members?  NATO is not a singular amoebic body.  It is a sum of its parts.
     We need to know more about its parts.  Are the NATO member nations part of other world partnerships--the UN?
     If so, did they have a vote on the UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which approved the no-fly zone?
     OK.  Too many questions.  Let's get some answers.  Let's get a sense of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
     First, NATO was founded in 1949--four years after the founding of the Arab League, and the United Nations.  It is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.
     NATO is comprised of 28 independent member countries.
     The  member nations of NATO are:  Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
     Canada, and the United States round out the roster of NATO member nations.
     Four NATO members are serving on the UN Security Council currently.  France, the United Kingdom, and the United States voted in favor of Resolution 1973.  Germany abstained.
     In addition to the 28 member nations, apparently, there are "partner countries."  The first group of partner countries is called the "Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council"--the EAPC.  The member nations of the Council include Armenia, Austria, Azerbijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzogovina, Finland, Ireland, Kazakhstan, the Kyrghyz Republic, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,  Malta, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
     Wake up.  I know your eyes are glazing over.  Your attention is waining.
     Yet, this is important.  We need to know who our neighbors on this earth are.  Peace depends upon it.
     NATO has a NATO Mediterranian Dialogue.  It consists of seven countries in the Mediterranian Sea, including:  Algeria, Egypt, Israel,  Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia.
     Next, are these seven Dialogue nations members of other relevant partnerships? Yes. Six of the seven countries are members of the Arab League.  Obviously, Israel is not a member of the Arab League.
     Stay with me.  Two more partnerships of NATO need to be identified.
     First, the Instanbul Cooperative Initiative.  The ICI consists of five countries:  Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.  ICI members address security issues--military readiness, and terrorism.  NATO identifies defense reform, defense budgeting, cooperation to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.  Civil emergency planning is among other goals that guide the Istanbul Cooperative Initiative.
     Finally, four countries distant from the North Atlantic Ocean are "contact countries"--they share strategic interests of NATO.  Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and New Zealand are the four ICI contact countries.
     I am left with two questions.  Libya.  Will NATO member nations become involved in implementing the Libyan no-fly zone?  If so, what nations?  I shudder to think of the extent, much less the result.
     Secondly.  Japan.
     Will NATO become involved in helping Japan to deal with the nuclear crises, or the earthquake, and tsunami that struck Japan?  Will the work done on civil emergency planning, in which Japan was a participant,  propel NATO to act?  Others have noted that NATO is waiting for a request for help by Japan.  
    Have the ICI member nations developed any strategies that Japan is or may be drawn upon to expedite addressing the immediate crises, and dealing with the longer-term rebuilding efforts in which Japan will be engaged?  Let us hope so.
      Just some thoughts.  I make no claims on any answers.  I pray for peace.

The Arab League

     Hopefully, oversimplification of my reflections is a step toward a broader understanding, rather than a jumping off point for simplistic solutions.
     The Arab League.
     The news coverage is peppered with references to the Arab League.  Yet, what do we know of it?  When was it founded? Where is it headquartered?  What are the member countries?  When did the member countries join in partnership with the Arab League?
     In 1945, the Arab League was founded in Cairo, Egypt.  The founding members were Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon,  Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, and what was known as Transjordan, which has been known as Jordan since 1950.
     The founding of the Arab League was simultaneous with the founding of the United Nations in Yalta.  To put the Arab League in the context of the United Nations, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Syria were founding members of both the Arab League and the United Nations.
     I was reading of a subtle distinction--subtle to me, at least.  The Arab League describes itself as "a regional organization of sovereign states, rather than a federation, or a union."
     I am curious.  What was the tenor of the deliberations that led the Arab League to support a no-fly zone over Libya?  Lebanon--a founding member of the Arab League--was one of 11 U.N. Security Council  members, who approved the implementation of the no-fly zone over Libya.
     What is the dynamic of Libya's membership in the Arab League?  To date, has Libya been influential in the organization?  I don't want to see the slaughter of innocent lives.  Yet, just as I was influenced by childhood experiences participating as a host family in a foreign exchange program, two other childhood influences color my perspectives.  While many families' homes were adorned with the American flag, our home was adorned with the flag of the United Nations.  On October 24th, special attention was given to honoring the founding of the United Nations on October 24, 1945.  The second experience that has a huge influence on my world view is the Vietnam War.  Specifically, my parents subscribed to something long since forgotten, such that our family received a poster each month which displayed the number of casualties of North Vietnamese, South Vietnamese, American individuals, as well as individuals from the Viet Cong.
     I digress.  The Arab League.
     Iraq joined the Arab League shortly after it was founded.  Libya joined the Arab League in 1953--eight years after its founding.  In 1956, Sudan joined the Arab League.  Tunisia and Morocco joined the Arab League in 1958.  Kuwait joined the Arab League in 1961.  One year later, Algeria joined the Arab League.  In 1967, Southern Yemen joined the Arab League--the same year that the Arab-Israeli War occurred.  1971 was a year of tremendous growth in this regional organization.  Oman, Portugal, and Qatar joined the League.  On September 21, 1971, just one month after gaining its independence from England, Bahrain joined the Arab League.
     In 1973, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania joined the Arab League.  Mauritania is located on the Atlantic Ocean.  Currently, it has a population of approximately 3.2 million people.  It is the size of Texas, and New Mexico in the United States.  I confess to know little of Mauritania.
     In 1974, Somalia joined the Arab League.  Somalia had been a member of the United Nations, since 1960.
    Comoros joined the United Nations in 1975.  It did not join the Arab League until 1993.  I confess that I know nothing of Comoros--a fact that I should rectify.
    In 1976, the Palestinian Liberation Organization became a member of the Arab League.
    It would be easy to say that a partnership has no cost.  Yet, Egypt paid a price for its peace treaty with Israel in 1977.  Egypt's membership in the League was suspended for 10 years.  The Arab League headquarters was moved from Cairo, Egypt to Tunis, Tunisia during that time.
     May this offer an outline of the Arab League--a chronological, as well as a geographic profile--that may provide some sense of what is meant when "the Arab League" is mentioned.