NATO is riven by divisions among its members, Rasmussen Global chief strategist Fabrice Pothier told CNBC.
The most frequent disputes arise between NATO members Greece and Turkey, with both countries conducting naval drills off Crete amid claims over oil and natural gas exploration rights in the Eastern Mediterranean.
These disagreements have caused a split in NATO and Europe - the US is reportedly conducting naval drills with Turkey, and France with Greece.
“The real squeeze for NATO is from the inside. Yes, there are crises on the outside in Belarus, in the Eastern Mediterranean crisis, but fundamentally it is squeezed from the inside because some of the big members, the U.S., Turkey, France, are not seeing eye to eye,” Pothier told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe.
“I think on the inside (of NATO) there is a real political crisis simmering,” he added.
“And with the case of France and Turkey, we are witnessing some kind of escalation in the Eastern Mediterranean so I think the real political conversation between Jens Stoltenberg and Chancellor Merkel will be more about how do we solve these political issues between our member states,” he said.
