The triumphs and question marks from this week’s NATO summit

This summer blockbuster lived up to the hype. In Madrid this week, NATO allies substantially boosted their forces in Eastern Europe, struck a deal to invite Sweden and Finland into the club, and dropped a once-in-a-decade strategic concept that strove to break new ground on China and climate change. What do these developments mean—and which ones flew under the radar? How will history judge this consequential gathering? From Madrid to Washington, our experts are here with answers.

Our experts decipher NATO’s new Strategic Concept

This one was a decade in the making. On Wednesday, NATO released its new Strategic Concept—a sixteen-page document of dry diplomat-speak sketching out the Alliance’s future path as it takes on threats posed by Russia, China, climate change, and more. But what were the allies really saying amid all the jargon? And what did they leave out? Experts from the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative carefully combed through the document and dropped their insights in the margins.

What Turkey won with its NATO leverage

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The door is back open. After weeks of tension, Turkey finally dropped its objection to Finland and Sweden’s bids to join NATO as the Alliance kicked off its summit in Madrid on Tuesday. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan scored a face-to-face meeting with US President Joe Biden and spurred Stockholm and Helsinki to address his concerns about the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its Syrian affiliate, the People’s Defense Units (YPG), while NATO moved toward securing two new members. Our experts, weighing in from the summit in Spain and around the globe, dissect the deal.

Turkey Lifts Opposition to NATO Membership for Sweden, Finland

Turkey lifted its opposition to allowing Sweden and Finland to join the NATO Western alliance. Turkey’s agreement came on Tuesday, less than a day before the opening of the NATO summit in Madrid, following talks between leaders of the three countries. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called it a “historic decision.” The two countries agreed to lift restrictions on selling weapons to Turkey, and Sweden agreed to respond to Turkish extradition requests of suspected militants.

Israeli Attacks Bring Shakeup in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Intel Division

Israel’s covert campaign to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program has rattled the Iranian leadership, resulting in a significant housecleaning in the intelligence division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the elite branch of the armed forces. Ebrahim Jabbari, the head of the unit in charge of protecting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his family, was replaced on June 27.

The World Has Forgotten Afghanistan. Afghan Refugees Can’t

If you have ever wondered what hell might feel like, ask an Afghan refugee. While you may not personally know any, there is a good chance that if you live near a major urban center in Europe, Canada or the United States, you’ve unknowingly passed someone on the street or stood in line behind someone at the grocery store who has recently fled Afghanistan.

MSF report: No mercy for civilians in Ukraine

Accounts from MSF’s patients reveal how children and elderly people are affected by heavy weaponry and indiscriminate attacks.

The war in Ukraine is indiscriminately harming civilians who are struck by heavy weaponry in their homes, shelters, and evacuation routes, according to a report released today by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which is based on the experiences of patients that the organization has evacuated from eastern Ukraine by train.