NATO is a group of countries that have promised to help each other with soldiers and weapons if one of them is attacked. The United States is in it, and so are many countries in Europe, such as Britain, France, Germany, and others around the North Atlantic. Taiwan is not a member. The name is short for North Atlantic Treaty Organization: North Atlantic because the first members sat around that ocean, treaty because they signed a promise, and organization because it is a lasting club, not one meeting. People say it as one word, like “nay-toe,” not as four letters. You will hear it in the news when countries talk about war, joining the group, or that promise (an attack on one is treated as an attack on all). Some people use the same letters as a sour joke, “No Action, Talk Only,” when they feel the group talks more than it acts — that is not the real name. Do not mix NATO with the UN: the UN is a much bigger world talking-group; NATO is a smaller military one.