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Chapter 2: The Transformation of the Alliance Europe's new Security Environment   The Gulf Crisis Despite the positive course of many of these developments, new threats to stability can arise very quickly and in unpredictable circumstances, as the 2August 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and subsequent developments in the Gulf area demonstrated. The Coalition Force formed under United States leadership to repel the invasion did not involve NATO directly, but the solidarity achieved within NATO in relation to the conflict played a significant role. The NATO countries used the Alliance forum intensively for political consultations from the outbreak of the crisis and took a prominent part in supporting United Nations efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution. When these failed, the direct contributions to the Coalition Force of NATO member countries, and their experience of sharing assets and working together within NATO, again played a part. Moreover, in an act incumbent upon the Alliance itself, elements of NATO’s ACE Mobile Force were sent to Turkey in order to demonstrate the Alliance’s collective defence commitment, under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, in the event of an external threat to Turkey’s security developing from the situation in the Gulf. Significantly, the unity of purpose and determined opposition by the international community to the actions taken by Iraq, offered positive evidence of the transformation which had taken place in relations between the Soviet Union and the West. The benefits resulting from the establishment of better contacts and increased cooperation between them were clearly apparent. This early recognition of mutual interests with respect to the security and stability of the entire Euro-Atlantic area contributed to the subsequent positive evolution of NATO-Russian relations culminating in 1997 with the signing of the NATO-Russia Founding Act. The dangers inherent in the Gulf crisis reinforced the Alliance’s determination to develop and enhance the level of its cooperation with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as with other countries, in accordance with the goals set by Alliance Heads of State and Government in the London Declaration. This determination was further reinforced by the events of 1991, including the repressive steps taken by the Soviet Government with regard to the Baltic states, prior to conceding their right to establish their own independence; the deteriorating situation and outbreak of hostilities in Yugoslavia, leading to the break-up of the Yugoslav Federation; and the attempted coup d’état in the Soviet Union itself which took place in August 1991.