NATO flags flutter during the final day of NATO Saber Strike exercises in Orzysz, Poland, on June 16. But for Trump and for the United States, the Warsaw stop will present a set of modern-day challenges with historical echoes. To solidify a credible deterrent to the Soviet Union, the defense pact needed to expand to include the United States. Warsaw would also become the namesake for the pro-Soviet alliance system — the Warsaw Pact — created in 1955 to become NATO’s counterfoil. In the past 25 years, NATO expanded eastward to include former Warsaw Pact members such as Poland, as well as former Soviet states.

Source: Washington Post July 06, 2017 09:00 UTC