NATO

Reuters:

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari appealed to NATO on Tuesday to speed up promised training for his country's security forces and provide border security support and military equipment as well. "We need this training you promised us in Istanbul to be carried out as soon as possible. We need it, in fact we are in a race against time and it's a matter of urgency," Zebari told a news conference after meeting ambassadors of the 26-nation alliance.

Unfortunately for Iraq, NATO isn't what it used to be, as Afghanistan is now finding out. NATO was formed specifically for the purpose of defending Europe against the Soviets during the cold war. With the collapse of communism, NATO has been desparately seeking relevance and purpose. With this crisis of purpose has naturally come a lessening of unity. Even has NATO has grown, it has been becoming increasingly less relevant.