Read on to the end of the article for an invitation to our next premium subscriber Zoom call, featuring former NATO Secretary General and Prime Minister of Denmark Anders Fogh Rasmussen—taking place on Wednesday, May 27 at 9am ET.
Garry Kasparov is the founder and chairman of the Renew Democracy Initiative, which publishes The Next Move.
I’m on my way back from Toronto, where I just received the Friend of Ukraine Award from the Tryzub Gala Foundation, which recognizes people for their support of Ukraine.
(Of course, the real heroes are the men and women of Ukraine, who are taking on enormous risks and sacrificing every day and every night. Nevertheless, I’m flattered and grateful for the opportunity to help advance this most worthy cause.)
Last year, I rocked the boat a bit in a different part of Canada. It was at the Halifax International Security Forum, where I said that “NATO doesn’t exist anymore.”
“It’s a fake.” I went on to say. “It’s N-A-T-O, four letters.”
It were as if I’d committed heresy! Some people are still mad at me for saying this! I guess it makes sense that they responded this way, since my point was that Article 5 is actually an article of faith—not a functioning enforcement mechanism.
If Russia were to probe the alliance with a small incursion—say, nabbing one predominantly Russian-speaking city in Latvia or Estonia, would Spanish or Portuguese troops really get into a shooting war with Moscow?
Would Canada get involved?
What about the United States? Certainly not under this administration, but even with a Democrat in the White House, can we be so sure?
My belief was reinforced earlier this week at a forum in New York that the Renew Democracy Initiative organized with the Consulates General of Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Lithuania.
I participated in an illuminating discussion with Swedish Consul General Ambassador Erik Ullenhag and RDI CEO Uriel Epshtein.
There are some countries that would respond to a Russian trespass in Northern Europe. I strongly suspect that our Nordic and Baltic friends really do intend to stand up. Their representatives all signaled that historical experience, coupled with the more recent memory of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, has put them in a more ready position.
But the Nordics and Baltics, as courageous and committed as they are, represent only one part of the democratic alliance. Forcing them to carry the burden of defending the Free World alone is untenable, just as it’s unsustainable (not to mention unfair) to place that responsibility squarely on Ukraine.
So, if NATO isn’t working in its current form, the allies need to start thinking about what comes next. No mortal institution is sacred, but the values of mutual security, freedom, and prosperity are.
To help start that conversation, I’d like to turn to a friend who understands NATO’s challenges well: Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Anders served as secretary general of NATO, and before that, for eight years as prime minister of Denmark (a country that, more recently, has had to endure insulting and dangerous threats against its territory from its nominal NATO ally in Washington).
I’ll be holding a Zoom conversation with Anders for premium subscribers of The Next Move, coming up on Wednesday, May 27, 2026 at 9am ET. We’ll discuss the future of NATO, Nordic and Baltic security, and, of course, the two million-square kilometer elephant in the room: Greenland.
If you’re not already a premium subscriber, you can upgrade to join our call with Anders. The registration link for our talk is just below the paywall.
And if you’d like to bring a friend, I encourage you to gift a subscription. They’ll get all of the same benefits that you receive, including access to our May 27 talk.
As always, I don’t take one kopek from your contributions. All of your support helps to drive the work of RDI, including direct aid to Ukraine, organizing dissident-led civic education, and shaping the conversation here on The Next Move.