What is NATO?

The mutual-defense alliance was established in 1949, after World War II, by
the United States, Canada and 10 European countries.
Which countries are in NATO?
In addition to the United States and Canada, the 10 other countries
that became part of NATO in 1949 were: Belgium, Denmark, France,
Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and
Britain.

Since then, 19 more European states have joined: Albania, Bulgaria,

Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland,
Turkey, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.

Other European countries, such as Ireland and Austria, have, over the
years, avoided joining, often because of a policy of neutrality. But
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted two traditionally nonaligned
countries, Sweden and Finland, to reconsider.
They announced plans to seek membership in May and received
formal invitations in June, but their paths have since diverged.

Finland is now a member after Turkey became the last member of the
alliance to approve its application. That cleared the way for Finland to
formally join NATO on Tuesday.

It’s been a different story for Sweden. It was expected to join the
alliance “hand in hand” with its Nordic neighbor, but Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has thrown a wrench in those plans,
and Hungary’s support is also in doubt.

The Turkish leader has refused to back the application, arguing that
Sweden is protecting Kurdish separatists and other dissidents he
considers terrorists, and Sweden has been unable to convince him to
change his stance.

Ukraine, in contrast, has little prospect of membership any time soon,

not least because of the risk of widening the conflict with Russia.