The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or the so-called North Atlantic Alliance displays the result of over a year's worth of preparation of skills, technology, ammunition and war preparedness, as it is now being held in Southern Europe up to Portugal and Italy. The three-week event started on October 21 and expected to continue until November 6th.
NATO's code-named Trident Juncture gathered all of its subjects to highlight its ability to prepare against various threats to security and peace. It aims to exhibit the ability to defend the allegiance and respond to extreme situations and somehow send a message to potential threats. As Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary-General said, they do not seek confrontation but are ready to defend their allies.
The exercises gathered more than 36,000 personnel from the 28 NATO allies and 8 partner nations are going on different exercises and would also be doing simulations against imaginary enemies as part of the event. The allegiance's simulations gathered 160 aircrafts and 60 warships.
"The last time NATO regularly held exercises of this magnitude; we were in the midst of the Cold War, facing the Soviet threat," Stoltenberg said. This display of military exposition was triggered by the 2014 annexation of Crimea and pro-Russia separatist insurgency support, aside from the awareness and preparation against various other security threats.
Despite of the seemingly successful Trident Juncture, critics said that it still needs improvement and further adaptation. The allegiance was criticized as it had given a lukewarm response to Syria's current situation, amongst other things such as the European allies' hesitant approach and attention to their military divisions, by its previous allegiance supreme commander, Retired Adm. James Stavridis.
Even if the war games may have taken 2 years to develop in planning and more than a year of preparation, Russia seemed unconvinced. Moscow's representative in NATO Alexander Grushko said that the exhibition has been shifting "from the policy of partnership to the policy of containing Russia."
