Word: nato
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...political purpose arose of helping the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, newly emancipated from the Soviet empire, to make the transition to freedom, capitalism and security by embedding them in that same European structure. That, too, has been largely achieved - with their security further buttressed by membership of NATO...
...palace of the parliament in Bucharest, they like to say in Romania, is the second largest building in the world, trumped only by the Pentagon. It will need all its space when NATO leaders start their summit there on April 2. Heads of government of most of the 26 states that make up the world's largest military alliance will show up, as well as guests such as Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, whose nations are deploying troops alongside NATO allies in Afghanistan and other far-flung places...
...guest list did not extend, however, to Majeed Khan, a tribal leader in the rugged Uruzgan region of southern Afghanistan. That's a shame. Khan would have told his hosts some home truths. He would prefer to see more of NATO, if he could, because in recent months his region has been invaded by Taliban insurgents. "We cannot stop them from coming into our areas [because] there are no soldiers to stop them," said Khan earlier this month. "The soldiers [from NATO] come into the area, but then they leave and the Taliban come back. We don't encourage...
...Bucharest summit, the long war in Afghanistan will be both the most important issue on the agenda, and, in a larger sense, a metaphor for a needed debate about NATO's purpose - a debate about what it is supposed to do, and what each of its members is expected to contribute to its mission. Nearly two decades after the end of the cold war - which NATO decisively won without firing a shot in anger - the business of refocusing the alliance remains a work in progress. NATO forces are involved in peacekeeping in the Balkans, and its political leaders are concerned...
...course, there's nothing unique about the AU's limited ability to enforce stability in trouble spots: The U.S. has not managed to bring peace to Iraq; NATO is deadlocked in Afghanistan; and the United Nations routinely falls short of its ambitions - even with the deployment of the world's biggest peacekeeping force in Sudan and Darfur. The same is true for eastern Congo, where fighting has continued despite the presence of what, until Darfur, was the world's biggest U.N. force. Ditto Rwanda 1994, when the major powers at the U.N. ensured that the organization remained paralyzed...