NATO summit: the media is the message

• NATO’s decision to reinforce the east overlooks more pressing threats to the south
• The alliance still cannot counter Russian methods of substate warfare
• Eastern commitments may create political problems in the U.S. and Europe

Members of the North Atlantic alliance gathered in Warsaw earlier this month amid uncertainties that call for strategic patience. Both the United States and Russia are searching for new approaches to the Syrian quagmire. Turkey is alleviating tensions with Israel and Russia. Eastern Ukraine is slowly acquiring a status of normality as the stalemate in the Donbas drags on. And the European Union adopted a new Global Strategy just days after Britons voted to leave, raising questions about the bloc’s ability to withstand intensifying global competition in the years to come.