Today was quite a busy day following a long and relaxing day in Paris. The day was filled with meetings including one at NATO Shape, one with the European People’s Party and finally dinner and a lecture with Dr. Stefan Gehrold, the Head of the European Office at Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. The first lecture at NATO SHAPE was given by Colonel N.H. Johansen, who provided a general overview of NATO’s structure, its purpose, and some of its current missions. It was a good background that prepared us for our next speaker Major Ed Hardy. MAJ Hardy provided us with information on exactly what is done at SHAPE. At Shape they determine minimum capability requirements, which include both quantitative and qualitative lists along with priority shortfalls. They play an integral role in NATO’s Defense Planning Process. While I was too nervous to ask a question to MAJ Hardy during the meeting, I did get a chance to talk with him during lunch. I was interested in the measures that were being taken by NATO to prepare for potential cyber terrorism. It seems that NATO sees this as something important, but they are struggling with adding it into their policy but that they have set it up, and that it is something that should come up at the Chicago Summit, and as it turns out it did. There was also a later round table discussion that focused on NATO’s shift towards smart defense and a decrease on U.S. reliance. This too was discussed at the summit. I like that NATO is trying to get more members to contribute more capabilities so that the U.S. can stop bearing the majority of the burden. At the EPP we discussed multiple topics but I was most interested in the party’s perspective on the EURO crisis. We heard about the implications of a return to national currencies. Germany would end up suffering because the value of their currency would be so high that no one would be able to trade with them and southern countries such as Greece, would suffer massive inflation. Even if they wanted out, at this point pulling out would be devastating to all sides. We ended the evening with dinner and a lecture from Dr. Stefan Gehrold, who discussed the origins and the purpose of the foundation, which was initially to train Germany in democracy after the failure of it to take hold during the Weimar Republic. The foundation now has foreign offices open in over 100 countries which support about 200 programs, which help educate people around the world on the process of democracy.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
NATO's New Role As A Global Actor
Today was quite a busy day following a long and relaxing day in Paris. The day was filled with meetings including one at NATO Shape, one with the European People’s Party and finally dinner and a lecture with Dr. Stefan Gehrold, the Head of the European Office at Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. The first lecture at NATO SHAPE was given by Colonel N.H. Johansen, who provided a general overview of NATO’s structure, its purpose, and some of its current missions. It was a good background that prepared us for our next speaker Major Ed Hardy. MAJ Hardy provided us with information on exactly what is done at SHAPE. At Shape they determine minimum capability requirements, which include both quantitative and qualitative lists along with priority shortfalls. They play an integral role in NATO’s Defense Planning Process. While I was too nervous to ask a question to MAJ Hardy during the meeting, I did get a chance to talk with him during lunch. I was interested in the measures that were being taken by NATO to prepare for potential cyber terrorism. It seems that NATO sees this as something important, but they are struggling with adding it into their policy but that they have set it up, and that it is something that should come up at the Chicago Summit, and as it turns out it did. There was also a later round table discussion that focused on NATO’s shift towards smart defense and a decrease on U.S. reliance. This too was discussed at the summit. I like that NATO is trying to get more members to contribute more capabilities so that the U.S. can stop bearing the majority of the burden. At the EPP we discussed multiple topics but I was most interested in the party’s perspective on the EURO crisis. We heard about the implications of a return to national currencies. Germany would end up suffering because the value of their currency would be so high that no one would be able to trade with them and southern countries such as Greece, would suffer massive inflation. Even if they wanted out, at this point pulling out would be devastating to all sides. We ended the evening with dinner and a lecture from Dr. Stefan Gehrold, who discussed the origins and the purpose of the foundation, which was initially to train Germany in democracy after the failure of it to take hold during the Weimar Republic. The foundation now has foreign offices open in over 100 countries which support about 200 programs, which help educate people around the world on the process of democracy.
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