The NATO Citizen
2004-09-27 19:21:38 UTC
It's a fine day here in the North Atlantic security community!
By ESLaPorte
Sun, Sep 26 2004
http://www.pronato.com/commentary/index.htm
It was for good and gracious reasons that our Alliance is expanding its
mission in Afghanistan and helping train Iraqi soldiers. Extending the ideal
of security community to other nations is a chore that is best given to our
North Atlantic nations and NATO Alliance.
The elections in Afghanistan this October will probably not be without
incident, but once those oppressed Afghanis, I have a feeling, get a whiff
of free elections, as in Eastern Europe; there will be no turning back. Free
elections will have Afghans addicted to freedom, as it has in Eastern
Europe. It is now unthinkable to Eastern Europeans to be without free
elections.
Our NATO Alliance is humming along despite the doomsayers. Or course, this
Author said it will be alright for our Alliance during the bad times before
the Iraq War. As it has been in past months, years and decades, the North
Atlantic security community pulls our NATO Alliance back from the perceived
near death experience. As stated, there never was any "near death
experience." Yes Ambassador Burns was wrong - and should really know better.
America's ambassador to NATO actually plays into the hands of the doomsayers
in the global media. The notion of a "near death experience for NATO" has
been replayed over and over again in the global media for the past five-plus
decades.
The North Atlantic security community, which includes NATO, is and always
will be strong and will survive. As security community scholars Emanuel
Adler and Michael Barnett (1998)* define "security community," the
defination has nothing to do with arms and armies. A security community is
defined as chiefly a group of people, nations that have become so integrated
to the point that disputes will be settled in a peaceful way. The concept of
security community also includes the common understanding of common values
between members of the community. This also includes the expectation of
peaceful change and that disputes are a part of "transactions," or
interactions, among the members.
The truth is that we all in the North Atlantic security community know that
dispute among its members are to be expected. Adler and Barnett also state
that in security communities disputes, disagreements and conflicts are part
of the dynamics and these should be expected. The difference is that these
disputes are not only expected, but that the prospect of war is never one of
the ways to settle the dispute and the community will continue on after the
dispute has ended.
It has been this Author's observation over the past year and a half that
this is the case with the North Atlantic security community, which has the
majority of its transactions through the NATO HQ in Brussels, that the
Alliance is stronger and more vibrant. In fact, it has been noted by this
Author that our alliance grows stronger with every "crisis."
No matter how many disputes, disagreements and conflicts go one between
especially France and the United States, past and present history has
demonstrated that the North Atlantic security community will continue (or
even grow stronger) and that NATO will survive, it always has. The
doomsayers in the global media really must stop making fools of themselves!
What is for certain is that our Alliance will be moving toward a future that
is more political and less raw military alliance. Currently our Alliance is
charged with missions that are out-of -area and training Iraqi police and
military. What else our NATO Alliance will be charged with in the future is
unknown, but it will probably be in counterterrorism/anti-terrorism and
democratization. Also, expect disputes, disagreements and conflicts to occur
in the North Atlantic security community and in NATO. Along with the
"crisis" look for our Alliance and North Atlantic security community to
rise up and become stronger!
*The book cited: Emanuel Adler and Michael Barnett (1998), Security
Communities. Cambridge University Studies: New York, NY.
By ESLaPorte
Sun, Sep 26 2004
http://www.pronato.com/commentary/index.htm
It was for good and gracious reasons that our Alliance is expanding its
mission in Afghanistan and helping train Iraqi soldiers. Extending the ideal
of security community to other nations is a chore that is best given to our
North Atlantic nations and NATO Alliance.
The elections in Afghanistan this October will probably not be without
incident, but once those oppressed Afghanis, I have a feeling, get a whiff
of free elections, as in Eastern Europe; there will be no turning back. Free
elections will have Afghans addicted to freedom, as it has in Eastern
Europe. It is now unthinkable to Eastern Europeans to be without free
elections.
Our NATO Alliance is humming along despite the doomsayers. Or course, this
Author said it will be alright for our Alliance during the bad times before
the Iraq War. As it has been in past months, years and decades, the North
Atlantic security community pulls our NATO Alliance back from the perceived
near death experience. As stated, there never was any "near death
experience." Yes Ambassador Burns was wrong - and should really know better.
America's ambassador to NATO actually plays into the hands of the doomsayers
in the global media. The notion of a "near death experience for NATO" has
been replayed over and over again in the global media for the past five-plus
decades.
The North Atlantic security community, which includes NATO, is and always
will be strong and will survive. As security community scholars Emanuel
Adler and Michael Barnett (1998)* define "security community," the
defination has nothing to do with arms and armies. A security community is
defined as chiefly a group of people, nations that have become so integrated
to the point that disputes will be settled in a peaceful way. The concept of
security community also includes the common understanding of common values
between members of the community. This also includes the expectation of
peaceful change and that disputes are a part of "transactions," or
interactions, among the members.
The truth is that we all in the North Atlantic security community know that
dispute among its members are to be expected. Adler and Barnett also state
that in security communities disputes, disagreements and conflicts are part
of the dynamics and these should be expected. The difference is that these
disputes are not only expected, but that the prospect of war is never one of
the ways to settle the dispute and the community will continue on after the
dispute has ended.
It has been this Author's observation over the past year and a half that
this is the case with the North Atlantic security community, which has the
majority of its transactions through the NATO HQ in Brussels, that the
Alliance is stronger and more vibrant. In fact, it has been noted by this
Author that our alliance grows stronger with every "crisis."
No matter how many disputes, disagreements and conflicts go one between
especially France and the United States, past and present history has
demonstrated that the North Atlantic security community will continue (or
even grow stronger) and that NATO will survive, it always has. The
doomsayers in the global media really must stop making fools of themselves!
What is for certain is that our Alliance will be moving toward a future that
is more political and less raw military alliance. Currently our Alliance is
charged with missions that are out-of -area and training Iraqi police and
military. What else our NATO Alliance will be charged with in the future is
unknown, but it will probably be in counterterrorism/anti-terrorism and
democratization. Also, expect disputes, disagreements and conflicts to occur
in the North Atlantic security community and in NATO. Along with the
"crisis" look for our Alliance and North Atlantic security community to
rise up and become stronger!
*The book cited: Emanuel Adler and Michael Barnett (1998), Security
Communities. Cambridge University Studies: New York, NY.