Word: nato
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...countries to the E.U. and boasts, if his straightforward delivery can be called a boast, of knowing most of Europe's leaders. Those connections, and his political heft, will help in his new role. "I'm a reformer," he says. "I want to continue the transformation and reform of NATO...
...small talk with Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The longtime Danish Prime Minister and new Secretary-General of NATO likes to get down to business quickly. Meetings have to achieve something tangible, notes a colleague. In private briefings before he took on his new job at the beginning of August, Rasmussen was "very focused," says Fabrice Pothier, director of the European office of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "There's no bullshit. It's 'Give me some concrete, doable recommendations.'" Two days in, Rasmussen, who at 56 is just four years younger than the military alliance itself, headed to Afghanistan...
...Rasmussen's sense of urgency is understandable. He wants to remake the world's most powerful military alliance, born from the ashes of World War II and shaped by its frontline role in the Cold War, into something that's "relevant in today's world." NATO will continue to be the guarantor of territorial defense for member states, he says, but it must also become "a provider of global peace and stability" by targeting threats - terrorism, piracy - in distant lands. It needs to be more flexible and agile, and should work more closely and more smartly with civilian institutions like...
...None of those notions is new; all of them, indeed, have been discussed ad nauseam since the end of the Cold War. But Rasmussen seems to understand that if NATO does not act on such ideas soon, the irrelevance that has haunted it will become a reality. "The challenge," Rasmussen told TIME in his first sit-down interview since taking office, "is to transfer [those ideas] into political practice." (See pictures of The Cold War's Influence...
...biggest immediate challenge is Afghanistan. Though the war is becoming deeply unpopular in Europe, Rasmussen - leaning forward and cutting the air with his hands for emphasis - says taking on the Taliban "is not only Obama's war." NATO contributions are a personal issue: Denmark's military has one of the highest casualty rates in Afghanistan. "Our mission in Afghanistan is really a multilateral mission," he says. "Besides the United States, 41 nations have contributed ... around 30,000 troops." At the same time, he "would very much like to see further contributions from the European side" - perhaps, he says...