National Defence committee  It's like Jeopardy. I love this.

National Defence committee  I did not read the article, so all I can say is that there are strategic missile heads and non-strategic missile heads. Under the START II treaty between the U.S. and Russia, each country is working on reducing its number of strategic nuclear warheads. There is little talk right

National Defence committee  Yes.

National Defence committee  There are three things. One is that NATO can't expand to every country on earth; we can only expand in Europe. That's a charter restriction. We have partnerships with many other countries, but certainly it won't expand. Second, NATO doesn't have the money, or the mandate, or th

National Defence committee  Well, the UN has also taken on tougher roles where they didn't wear blue helmets. But you're right that NATO takes on the tougher end of peace operations, which the UN cannot handle. I would put it that way.

National Defence committee  First, I will just say with regard to China that we have not received the slightest indication that the Chinese are concerned in any way with the NATO missile defence system. Russia is concerned, and Russia's defence strategy hinges.... The big pole in the tent is their strateg

National Defence committee  First, you're right that there are two messages there. It's not just one message. We have countries in NATO, just to get to the politics, that are deeply committed to nuclear deterrence. They believe that to abandon nuclear deterrence in a world full of nuclear weapons would subs

National Defence committee  The strategic concept has two paragraphs devoted to Russia, and it clearly states our commitment and desire to have a deeper strategic partnership with Russia. We have a NATO-Russia council, where Russia sits as an equal. All NATO-Russia issues are decided by consensus with the

National Defence committee  First, of course, you're quite right that there's a lot of discussion on China. This year China's defence budget will equal the defence budgets of the top eight NATO allies, not counting the U.S. It gives you a little sense of proportion. Asia's defence spending will equal Europe

National Defence committee  That is at the heart of smart defence. As I said, our military budgets are still quite substantial. Together, the U.S., Europe and Canada account for 50% of all military defence spending in the world. So enough money is being invested, although it could be spent more efficiently.

National Defence committee  That is an excellent question. For the first time, the strategic concept actually sets out a role for NATO in terms of pre-crisis and post-crisis involvement, precisely to prevent conflicts. The alliance has somewhat played that role in the past, for instance, in Macedonia, a s

National Defence committee  That is actually what we are discussing. I would say we used to do more on that front in cooperation with the European Union, in particular. That partnership has diminished, however, because of external problems, but I think NATO could certainly perform that function. It has the

National Defence committee  This is definitely a question for General Abrial. I don't want to go into too much detail. I think that's more for the military.

National Defence committee  You know, that's an interesting question. I don't think there's a specific reference to responsibility to protect in this strategic concept. My recollection of the debates around the development of the document is that they were not too much about that. In essence, NATO is abou

National Defence committee  The document contains a chapter on arms control and disarmament. Many of the allies strongly believe that they or NATO should play this role. Clearly, NATO's mandate to help control arms is one thing, but arms reduction is another. I want to start by pointing out that we have re