In the Loop Podcast: Nato Article four and Article five explained — why is everyone talking about WWIII?

Poland is a member of NATO. Photo / NATO

Alarm bells were ringing earlier this week after a reportedly Russian-made missile landed in Nato-member nation Poland.

Today on the Herald’s In the Loop podcast hosts Cheree Kinnear and Katie Harris discuss why this blast, which killed two people, caused such large shockwaves across the globe.

Poland is a member of Nato, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which was formed in 1949 to provide collective security against the threat posed by the Soviet Union.

But even after the dissolution of the Soviet Union the alliance has continued and it has been involved in military operations in the Balkans, the Middle East, South Asia and Africa.

Although it’s believed the attack in Poland was not intentional, and that air defences in Ukraine likely launched the Soviet-era projectile against a Russian bombardment, the news was enough to prompt US President Jo Biden to call an emergency meeting of G7 and Nato leaders.

“Ukraine’s defence was launching their missiles in various directions and it is highly probable that one of these missiles unfortunately fell on Polish territory,” said Polish President Andrzej Duda.

“There is nothing, absolutely nothing, to suggest that it was an intentional attack on Poland.”

At a meeting of the 30-nation military alliance in Brussels, Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg echoed the preliminary Polish findings, saying: “We have no indication that this was the result of a deliberate attack.”

But if the attack had been deemed intentional, why would it significantly change the current standing of the war in Ukraine — and why, when preliminary reports of a bomb going off in Polish territory, did so much commentary about “WWIII” emerge?

Well, attacking a Nato country is different. It would trigger Articles four and five of the Nato treaty.

Listen to the podcast to find out the details of Article 4 and Article 5 — as well as a rundown of how they work.

Later in the show New Zealand’s first alcohol-free liquor store has launched in Auckland, then Taylor Swift fans break the internet trying to purchase tickets for her next world tour.