NATO. It's like the seven dwarfs. Good for a laugh but not much else.

Stratfor has a good free articel on NATO and how little it reall helps the United States when it comes to mutual defence, though the author says how a weakining EU means that NATO is very valuable politically.  But that is beside the point.  In terms of it being a mutual defence treaty, which hasn't had a real mission since the fall of the Soviet Union, it has been bust.  Remember Libya and how so many pundits, of the libertarian and left variety, thought our actions were about oil; well it wasn't, it was about maintaining our military coalition.  Despite Obamas claims that the US was taking the back seat the US supplied, according to this article, 80% of the oil, and was the logistical muscle behind the operation. Meaning, that if the United States had not gotten involved, either the mission would not have happened, or it would have been overwhelmingly been run by a combination of the few nations that could, France and the UK. Most European militaries are 'dead' so to speak, and since that's the case, why bother defending those that cannot be bothered to defend themselves?