Word: nato
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...tone is all very well, but if Obama does follow through on Biden's promise to "sincerely" listen to Europe, he is likely to hear a cacophony of confusion. For Europe - be it the European Union or the European members of NATO - has no clear consensus on strategic priorities or how they should be pursued. That applies to challenges from Afghanistan and Guantánamo to Iran and Russia. The Obama Administration may want to cast aside the hawkish unilateralism of the Bush era and its divide-and-rule methods that so jarred European sensitivities. But as the new President...
...That's evident in the debate about troop levels in Afghanistan. Almost half of NATO's 55,000 troops in Afghanistan are American, and Obama plans to almost double the U.S. military presence, although he says the emphasis will be on a "new realism" in objectives. Biden said the U.S. will come up with a new strategy in the next few months and has invited suggestions from all friends and allies. (See pictures of Joe Biden...
...while Britain and the Netherlands have troops on the frontline, other allies insist that reconstruction is as important as combat and refuse to redeploy. Speaking yesterday in Munich, British Defense Secretary John Hutton scolded his NATO allies for not stepping forward to share combat duties, warning that there could be no freeloaders in the fight against the insurgents. "It is better to volunteer than to be asked," he said, denouncing the European habit of "looking to the Americans to do all the heavy lifting...
...this is a matter of principle for Russia, it is stupid politics.' ALEXEI MALASHENKO, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, on reports that former Soviet republic Kyrgyzstan plans to close a U.S. military base, potentially jeopardizing NATO supply lines to Afghanistan...
...while Russia can't afford for NATO to fail in Afghanistan, it would not be comfortable seeing the U.S. prevail, boosting its position in Moscow's traditional central Asian backyard - where the increasingly competitive geopolitics of energy supplies has ignited a new "great game" battle for influence between the rival powers. While it needs the Taliban to lose, Moscow doesn't necessarily want NATO to win, as such. Instead, it needs the outcome to strengthen Russia's own strategic position in its former Soviet sphere of influence. The Russians have made no secret of their desire to have a greater...