657 LXV. The rationale of NATO founding and N.J. Spykman’s geopolitical example [Forthcoming in: Regional Science Inquiry, June 2017] “The successful termination of the war against our present enemies will find a world profoundly changed in respect of relative national mili- tary strengths, a change more comparable indeed with that occasioned by the fall of Rome than with any other change occurring during the succeeding fifteen hundred years. This is a fact of fundamental im- portance in its bearing upon future international political settlements and all discussions leading thereto.” […] “After the defeat of Japan, the United States and the Soviet Union will be the only military powers of the first magnitude”. (M. Matloff, Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare, 1943-1944, Washington D.C.1959, 128) 1. Introductory Remarks The foundation of NATO on April 4th, 1949 marked in the most ex- quisite manner the disintegration of the alliance of the US, Great Brit- ain and USSR which lasted during WWII. At the same time it coincided with the introduction of a new post-war system of power equilibrium, with the Cold War as its main characteristic. This total geopolitical