REF - North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is a military alliance between 28 member nations. According to Wikipedia.com, NATO "has established a system of collective defense whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party".

List of NATO member nations:
*Albania (TBA 2009)
*Beligium
*Bulgaria
*Canada
*Croatia (TBA 2009)
*Czech Republic
*Denmark
*Estonia
*France
*Greece
*Germany
*Hungary
*Iceland
*Italy
*Latvia
*Lithuania
*Luxembourg
*Netherlands
*Norway
*Poland
*Portugal
*Romania
*Slovakia
*Slovenia
*Spain
*Turkey
*United Kingdom
*United States
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Additional NATO facts:
*Established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949
*The treaty was created with an armed attack by the Soviet Union against Western Europe in mind, but the mutual self-defense clause was never invoked during the Cold War
*Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium
*Founding countries (members since 1949) - Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom and the United States

*Two general membership limits to non-member states:
1.) Only European states are eligible for membership and

2.) These states need the approval of all the existing member states

Data Courtesy: Wikipedia.com, snagged on 4/05/08.