On April 4, 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established as a military alliance among Western countries to counter Soviet expansion. In recent years, however, shifts in U.S. strategic priorities, Europe's growing desire for defense autonomy, and challenges over burden-sharing amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict have exposed widening and irreconcilable divergence between the U.S. and Europe within NATO. The post-Cold War era has raised fundamental questions about NATO's identity: Is it truly a collective security alliance of the North Atlantic, or primarily a tool of U.S. strategy? Click to watch the full episode: