Word: nato
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...tapped. His National Security Adviser will be retired Marine General James Jones, who thereby becomes the new President's closest foreign policy aide. Jones is held in high regard inside the Pentagon for his stewardship of the corps as its commandant and for his final uniformed posting as NATO's military chief. Obama's top intelligence pick is retired Navy Admiral Dennis Blair, widely regarded as whip-smart. He'll serve as Director of National Intelligence, overseeing the nation's sprawling spy bureaucracy. Obama is also keeping on Bush's Defense Secretary, Robert Gates. Even his pick for Secretary...
...Allied Commander in Europe, a job that since the Cold War's end has been as much about diplomacy as about war-fighting. That's how he came to be in Obama's office in early 2005, giving the new Senator a "wave top" briefing on Russia, Africa and NATO's troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The conversation lasted an hour. Jones impressed Obama with his "broad view of U.S. national-security interests, from classic military power to training missions, energy security and diplomacy," says an aide who attended the briefing. Obama struck Jones as a "very, very good listener...
...Holy Land. But since its founding in 1923, modern Turkey has shied away from any involvement with the Muslim world, once ruled by the Ottomans, instead orienting its foreign policy firmly toward the West. The predominantly Muslim nation is officially secular - it's a longtime U.S. ally and NATO member - and it's currently in a tortuous process of negotiations over eventual accession to the European Union. In the Middle East, until now, Turkey has been largely invisible...
...freeze and the assumption of the E.U. presidency by the Czech Republic, an ex-Soviet satellite, may have added to Putin's motivations. "Putin is reminding Europe [that] Russia's a force to be reckoned with, and that its position on things like the Ukraine's desire to join NATO, the E.U.'s eastern expansion and the U.S. missile shield should be taken into consideration more to maintain international cooperation and harmony," Liberti says. "And he probably knows if the gas crisis only lasts two or three weeks, he'll probably wind up getting some of the concessions he wants...
...face hostility on the ground. "The military contribution is important," said the Western official. "Turkey has done a good job as part of military contingents in Lebanon and Afghanistan. Their ability to talk to all sides in the conflict [in Gaza] means they have real credibility, and as a NATO member they have a professional military, so [they] are well placed to be effective...