What is the relationship of the U.N. to N.A.T.O.?

Question

What is the relationship of the U.N. to N.A.T.O.?

Answer 1

Membership:

- N.A.T.O. is composed almost entirely of European and North American countries. 26 members + 14 allies.

- U.N. is composed of almost all countries in the world. 192 total members.

Purpose:

- N.A.T.O. is a military alliance

- While U.N. does have a military, its efforts are mostly diplomatic and humanitarian.

Relationship:

- The U.N. due to its mostly non-military nature often petitions N.A.T.O. for military support. Non-N.A.T.O. U.N. members can support certain N.A.T.O. operations.

- Conflicts between N.A.T.O. and U.N. include the preemptive use of nuclear weapons. (see 2008 Guardian article)

Answer 2

N.A.T.O. is the war fighting organization. The U.N. is the peacemaking organization. The U.N. can only deploy once it has permission. N.A.T.O. is there to enforce the will of The U.S.A. and it's allies. N.A.T.O. was at first put to use as a means to oppose a rival of The U.S. which was then in the form of The U.S.S.R.  The next rival was Yugoslavia.

After that will be The remaining powers in The Middle East.

N.A.T.O. might be very far abroad then so might not be put to use.  There will be other forces than N.A.T.O to attack Venezeula as the implacable foe once The Iraq War is over.

Answer 3

NATO is NOT the UN.

Go to Wikipedia and look up NATO. Then look up the UN Security Council (as this is the only body within the UN that could in any way compare with NATO). The differences and relationship should be quite obvious.

Answer 4

They are both Western Civilization products.

Answer 5

It is complicated. But the simple answer is NATO is a core organization that carries much weight on the international scene. There are several countries that are clamoring to join. They have to fulfill certain conditions but once in they have military support from all of the member nations.

Once in they have more weight in the UN forums. They also get more investments and such from companies.

The UN was a good idea and should be effectual one day. But in practice the UN is unable to do anything. When they send troops to anywhere they have so many restrictions.

NATO is by default the UN. A central organization that will weigh in on a conflict and has the capability to threaten or actually do something about it.