Word: nato
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...between the Defense Ministers of Germany and the U.K. The German, a Gandhian archetype named Franz Josef Jung, gave a ridiculously optimistic report about progress in Afghanistan. The British Defense Minister responded elegantly during the next panel, "We need more of a wartime rather than a peacetime mentality at NATO ... There's too much of an obsession with process and prevarication...
...result, Obama's foreign policy will move at the speed of diplomacy - slower than a sclerotic donkey - punctuated by the occasional laser whoosh of a Hellfire missile in Waziristan. His policies will be nuanced and will not please anyone overmuch - not the Muslims (nor the Israelis) nor our NATO allies nor those Americans seeking ideological clarity or consistency. This will make for a round of more argumentative policy conferences next year, but perhaps fewer "How could you?" questions directed at Americans...
...Gates' pessimism is born of longstanding U.S. frustration over Europe's commitment to NATO military and peacekeeping operations. So news that France plans to return to NATO's integrated military command ahead of or during 60th anniversary celebrations for the alliance on April 4 could, at first glance, be taken as a sign that change is in the air. President Nicolas Sarkozy's long-standing reintegration plan would reverse President Charles de Gaulle's decision 43 years ago to pull France from NATO's military and planning structure to protest what he felt was Anglo-American domination of the organization...
...When necessary, Sarkozy says France will continue to oppose the U.S. on issues like the Iraq war, international finance, and environmental protection. But mutual objectives are so generally in line now, he argues, that France's exceptional status in NATO has become nonsensical. "You can be sure that by the month of April we will try to realize the great ambition for this family that we are part of," Sarkozy told an international security summit in Germany last month. "The alliance with the United States and the alliance with Europe does not compromise the independence of my country...
...will France's return actually mean much for NATO and its members? Is France likely to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan? Not really, and no. French activity in NATO has grown broader and deeper over the past few years already. France participated in a growing number of alliance-led missions including Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan. Those operations erased most of the significant divisions created by de Gaulle's partial withdrawal in 1966, and rendered France's special status largely symbolic. (See pictures of Kosovo...