My blog: feel free to steal this button!

Social Bookmarking Services


Archives

Featured

Past Blogs
Current Blog


My RSS 2.0 Newsfeed

My RSS 2.0 Newsfeed


YouTube

Twitter

Threads

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

Tumblr

Reddit

TikTok


The Agenda with Steve Paikin

The Huffington Post

SoundCloud


Oxford University alumni

St Edmund Hall, Oxford alumni

United Nations University alumni


The Royal Society of Arts

The Royal Asiatic Society

The Royal Canadian Geographical Society


UNICEF Team Canada

Governor General's Horse Guards Cavalry Squadron

MGB Roadsters


United Nations Children's Fund

Amnesty International Canada


Creative Commons

PGP Public Key

Friend of a Friend Protocol


 

Addressing the NATO Parliamentary Assembly
05 November 2015, 10h30 EST (UTC-5)
https://www.maharaj.org/blog/2015_11_05.shtml

Panel at NATO

At the NATO Parliamentary Assembly CDS Committee
Click photo for the Assembly

Recently, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly invited me to address them in Norway, in my capacity as CEO of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption. It was an extraordinary experience: being part of the deliberations on war, peace, and the fate of nations.

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly brings together legislators not only from NATO’s 28 member states, but also from some states openly hostile to the alliance: until its invasion of Crimea, Russia was an active participant.

The Assembly gives NATO parliamentarians a chance to build an international consensus on the world’s vital security issues, and to foster coherence between their national defence policies and the alliance’s global military strategy. More strikingly, the Assembly tries to build mutual understanding with the parliaments of non-NATO states, to reduce the risk of military escalation.

I advised the Assembly on two ongoing wars: Ukraine and Afghanistan.

Ukraine Presentation »Download Ukraine Presentation

Afghanistan Presentation »Download Afghan Presentation

On Ukraine, I offered my analysis of how political corruption had delivered the state into the hands of its enemies, and what steps the alliance needs to take to enable the new Ukrainian government to have a fighting chance of preserving its territorial integrity.

On Afghanistan, I outlined how the alliance should conduct future military engagements, in light of this experience. The lessons of the Afghan war were purchased at a bitter cost: it claimed more lives, more years, and more money than any other campaign in NATO's history.

The balance of deliberations were on a remarkably broad range of subjects, including:

• options to combat non-state military actors, such as ISIS and al-Qaeda;

• the extent to which oil is financing despotic regimes;

• the security dimension of climate change, in its potential to unleash new conflicts over disappearing water and agricultural resources;

• how to rebuild deterrence against international aggression from major powers, at a time when the international community has been demonstrably cowed by the risks of confronting a nuclear armed state.

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly Annual Session was often highly formal, even ritualised, but its substance was the stuff of high drama.

I remember seeing the Berlin Wall fall, and hoping that the age of global warfare might be over; that moment now feels far away. We are clearly facing terrible risks, and it will take great statesmanship to avoid the abyss.

I will write a more detailed account of the proceedings in the coming days.


 

Tweet this article at Twitter » To tweet this article through Twitter, please click here.

Post this article at Facebook » To post this article at Facebook, please click here.

Share this article at LinkedIn » To share this article at LinkedIn, please click here.


Subscribe to this article » To subscribe to my blog, please click here.

My iTunes Podcast » To subscribe to my podcast, please click here.

My YouTube Channel » To visit my YouTube channel, please click here.


My Blog » To return to my main blog page, please click here.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 


















Privacy Policy
Akaash Maharaj - Breaking News

 

Remembering Desmond Tutu

 

My article in the Globe and Mail


Television appearances

TVOntario’s The Agenda
 

Reflecting on the life of Queen Elizabeth II


Radio interviews

United Nations
 

My address in the UN General Assembly Chamber


Published articles

Testifying at Parliament
 

My testimony on regulation of social media.

   
 
iTunes Podcast
 
My YouTube Channel
 
My Twitter Tweets
 
My Thread posts
 
My Facebook Profile
 
My Instagram Gallery
 
My LinkedIn Profile
 
My Tumblr Page
 
My Reddit User Page
 
My TikTok videos
 
My RSS 2.0 Newsfeed