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National Defence committee  Again, that is an excellent question. In fact, the secretary general came in with the same question and has pushed intelligence from a forum inside NATO, which I encourage you to get a briefing on, perhaps in a less formal, less open structure. He has created a fusion capability

May 1st, 2012Committee meeting

James Appathurai

National Defence committee  First, yes, it is in there. I could find the page, but in essence it's in both the chapters related to core mission one, which is collective defence, and even more to core mission two, which is crisis management. What I would draw your attention to, though, and what I would sug

May 1st, 2012Committee meeting

James Appathurai

National Defence committee  It can be a problem, but it also brings with it decades, if not a century plus, of expertise. In the British foreign ministry there is someone, a friend of mine, whose official title is “Chief Arabist”, because this guy knows everything and he has been everywhere. They devote a l

May 1st, 2012Committee meeting

James Appathurai

National Defence committee  That's an extremely relevant question, and one that we discuss extensively. The first point to make is that one of NATO's great strengths is that Turkey is a very powerful and prominent member. It plays a number of roles. One, of course, is it can and does provide exactly the ki

May 1st, 2012Committee meeting

James Appathurai

National Defence committee  Literally and figuratively. In Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in the Arab world increasingly, as I'm quite sure you're aware, Turkey has had a mixed, let's say, image in the Arab world. That image is becoming ever stronger. When Prime Minister Erdogan goes to the Arab world, there ar

May 1st, 2012Committee meeting

James Appathurai

National Defence committee  This is my personal view, so I want to keep it as a personal view, but I don't think Canada is one of the countries to which the alliance is looking to play a role like the Czechs of specializing in one particular area. Because of our geography and our history, Canada has always

May 1st, 2012Committee meeting

James Appathurai

National Defence committee  The NATO allies have been very clear, because at the same time they were agreeing to the strategic concept, they also agreed to a communiqué that restated the decision of Bucharest that Georgia would become a NATO member. That didn't have any caveats to it, except that they would

May 1st, 2012Committee meeting

James Appathurai

National Defence committee  There has been no movement in either direction, downwards or upwards. But because of their reform, they have moved closer to NATO. The secretary general has made that statement as a clear statement of policy. But their final decision on whether or not they will join has already b

May 1st, 2012Committee meeting

James Appathurai

National Defence committee  I think that's probably more of a question for the Canadian government than for me. Canada has always been—and I don't say this because I am a Canadian or an international civil servant—an active, staunch member of NATO. They are an active staunch member of NATO now the way they

May 1st, 2012Committee meeting

James Appathurai

National Defence committee  Thank you. That's a very important question, and I would suggest that you put it to General Abrial. To put it in a general sense, specialization does not mean that any individual country would totally abandon all other roles. We still need the full spectrum of capabilities. Th

May 1st, 2012Committee meeting

James Appathurai

National Defence committee  Canada had a very important role. There was a small group put together before the strategic concept was drafted to basically create a framework or an early draft and certainly to go through all the issues. Canada had a representative on that team. Then the draft was put to us.

May 1st, 2012Committee meeting

James Appathurai

National Defence committee  The overview I gave you was the essential elements of what I think is important in the document. It's a document that has to last for 10 years, so it is at a certain level of generality. What I like about it is that it's readable for an average person, which was the aim. Also, be

May 1st, 2012Committee meeting

James Appathurai

National Defence committee  This one was put together a little differently than previous ones. The previous ones were developed through what you might call the traditional process of negotiation. Those of you who have been diplomats before have had the pleasure of that process. It is gruelling and endless a

May 1st, 2012Committee meeting

James Appathurai

National Defence committee  You're absolutely right that the principal motivation for taking in new members is to stabilize the region. It's the process that matters, to my mind, as much as bringing them in. Before they can join, they have to meet a number of standards, and they work very hard to meet the

May 1st, 2012Committee meeting

James Appathurai

National Defence committee  Thank you for that. First, of course, these issues come up quite frequently, and the Russians in particular are not shy about raising their concerns. But from our point of view, we were strictly within the mandate we were given. As you know, the mandate had three parts to it: on

May 1st, 2012Committee meeting

James Appathurai