Professor Kishore Mahbubani argued in these pages recently against Asia importing the "disastrous militaristic culture" of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), which "would like to expand its tentacles beyond the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean". East Asia has enjoyed three decades of peace following the end of the Cold War, he observed, a period in which parts of Europe and the Middle East have suffered from Nato intervention.

While the observations by the respected scholar-diplomat are not incorrect, the unwanted expansion of Nato needs to be viewed in broader terms.