Word: nato
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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...
...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...
...Priority No. 2 for Rasmussen is Russia, which has always seen NATO's post-Cold War expansion as a threat to its own security. Rasmussen concedes that NATO needs to get better at explaining its intentions and convincing Moscow that there are areas of common interest - Afghanistan, ending the spread of weapons of mass destruction, piracy - on which the former adversaries can work together. In the long term he imagines a "true strategic partnership" between Russia and NATO. But he insists that the organization will remain open to new members - which potentially means Ukraine and Georgia, both of whom have...
...ambitions - these are challenges that would daunt any politician. A keen runner and cyclist, Rasmussen has been known to invite Facebook friends (he has 34,636 of them) to exercise with him. He has remade his Facebook page in English, and says he wants to use it to give NATO a human face. There's nothing wrong with that. But his new job requires him to do a lot more than be friendly and accessible. To make sure NATO survives another 60 years, Rasmussen will have to get tough...