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Every story in sixty words

Explained in plain English

Who are NATO members?

NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, is a military alliance of 32 member countries across North America and Europe. These nations agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. Both the UK and the Netherlands, who just signed that big ship deal, are founding members, highlighting their commitment to collective security.

Stories that explain this

Trump tells NATO allies he wants loyalty, not money UK, Netherlands ink £2.4B ship deal for NATO forces

Questions this opens up

Who joined first? Who joined most recently? Who pays for NATO? Which countries joined NATO recently? What is Article 5? Who founded NATO?

Related explainers

What is Article 5 of NATO? Who contributes most to NATO? Why did Finland join NATO? How are NATO decisions made? What is NATO, really? What is NATO's military role? How does NATO work? Is NATO zero-sum?

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