One could argue that NATO won the first cold war back in the 1990's. The term "won" should be further defined as Russia dropping communism and downsizing their military manpower to roughly matching that of the USA, downsized about 95% from it's previous level. Russia still fields one of the largest armies in the world, and Russia is still a nuclear super power. Russia likely still maintains the most nuclear weapons on the planet. NATO should get at least partial credit for this outcome. Personally, I feel it was the American performance in the first Gulf war that convinced the Russians to change course. NATO merely kept them at bay for a while. NATO provided uncertainty in Russian military planning circles... enough uncertainty to discourage the assault waves of the Russian armored shock armies parked in the Ukraine from invading Western Europe. Once Russia quit the cold war, NATO had no reason to continue. Lucky for NATO there is now a new cold war.