NATO was set up in 1949. To begin with, it was made up of 12 countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the UK and the US. Today it has 32 members. The newest member is Sweden, which joined in March 2024. NATO has its headquarters in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. At the heart of the organisation is the principle of “collective defence”, meaning that an attack on one of the countries is considered to be an attack on all of them. Ukraine is not a member of NATO but wants to join. Russia is against this, because it doesn’t want NATO forces too close to its borders.…