Blog Posts from November, 2009
The World to the North
I just completed an excellent visit to Canada, our neighbor and NATO partner just north of the United States. As every U.S. citizen learns in elementary school, we sit side-by-side along the longest undefended border in the world, completely at peace with good friends who live in a land of remarkable beauty and culture.
Every time I go to Canada, I am struck by the bilingual / bicultural nature of that nation of 33 million. With a population that has both strong French (30%) and English (60%) linguistic roots, they carefully balance the language, education, government work, and laws to ensure that both languages and cultures are nurtured and protected. In the Canadian military, for example, the more senior an individual becomes the greater requirement for facility in both French and English. Living as I do now in the similarly bilingual country of Belgium (French and Flemish, principally), I know this is challenging but important.
My trip to both Ottawa and Halifax balanced previous trips I've made to Calgary and Vancouver in the west; and Montreal and Quebec City in the east. The geographic diversity of Canada is striking, running as it does from the gorgeous rocky eastern coast to the high Rocky Mountains in the west. But nothing is more dramatic than the high north, over which I have flown dozens of times.
The high north is much discussed these days in terms of a "new Great Game," i.e. a competition zone among nations for the natural wealth and trade routes that become more accessible as global warming opens the Northwest Passage. In that regard, my good friend General Walt Natynczyk, the Canadian Chief of Defense, was asked the other day if he was worried about an invasion of the Canadian high north by some unnamed nation in pursuit of hydrocarbons. He said, slightly tongue in cheek, "if we were invaded in the north, my first duty would be to rescue them." It is a humorous way to highlight the harsh conditions and supreme difficulties of even operating routinely "up there."
Canadian Forces Chief of the Defence Staff General Walt Natynczyk and I visit the World War I Memorial in Ottawa, Canada.
My own view of the high north is that we all need to work hard to prevent the region from becoming a "zone of competition," and make sure it becomes a "zone of cooperation." There is a lot to talk about among the nations involved -- Canada, Russia, U.S., Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and others. Some of the ways we can cooperate include navigation, search and rescue, buoyage systems, climate change, endangered species, conservation, communications, pollution, traffic monitoring, and resolving outstanding territorial disputes. The Arctic Council, an organization of involved nations, is a good forum for this.
I also had a chance to visit with the very capable Minister of National Defence, Peter MacKay. I've enjoyed getting to know him over the past couple of years, as he has a strikingly focused view of global security activity and leads his military with great enthusiasm and style. Full of new ideas, he is a strong participant in international dialogue through NATO.
Canada is a strong friend and ally to the U.S. and a forceful participant in NATO operations world-wide. They have 2,830 troops in Afghanistan, focused in the southern part of the country, doing good work in a tough place. Their frigate HMCS Fredericton just arrived on station in the waters off Somalia for counter-piracy operations. My Director of Staff at my Headquarters in Mons, Belgium -- a crucial job -- is a Canadian Brigadier General, Jim Selbie. Every Canadian military member I met in my three day visit was very upbeat and positive about their involvement in NATO operations, and we are lucky to have them with us!
(As most know, I am dual-hatted as the European Command Commander and also the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. Although Canada is not in the EUCOM area of responsibility, I felt it was important to include this blog on the EUCOM site as well to keep you up to date on all of my travels and experiences.)
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Audacity
Briefly, the piece describes how Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Devers, commander of the Allied Sixth Army, brilliantly advanced through France to Strasbourg and found himself on the verge of breaking through an undefended German border slightly more than three weeks before the Battle of the Bulge began (he arrived in Strasbourg on Nov. 24 actually). The author writes that had Eisenhower allowed Devers to cross the Rhine and continue his march onto German soil that the Allies could have crushed the Germans and effectively ended the war without the great bloodshed experienced three weeks later.
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“Smart” Engagement with the “Capital of Europe”
Last week, I spent two days in Brussels attending two European Union conferences “EU Smart Power” and “Energy Security” and got the chance to visit with my counterparts at the EU Military Staff.
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Health Center Ribbon Cuttings in Bulgaria
As Chief of the Office of Defense Cooperation in Bulgaria, I recently attended two ribbon cutting ceremonies in the towns of Zherevna and Kermen to celebrate the completion of renovations for their health centers funded by the DoD Humanitarian Assistance Office.
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From the Doc: H1N1 Frequently Asked Questions
Hello everyone! We're still monitoring the H1N1 situation in the European Command area of responsibility. Vaccinations have begun for our military members and we're doing our best to get the vaccination to everyone.
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Donation to the Chambarak School in Armenia
Riding down the bumpy dirt road with a semi–truck trailing behind, a smile appears on my face. We approach several cows standing in the middle of the road that are in no hurry, of course. I honk the horn twice and they finally begin to amble on their way, except for one. He slowly raises his head, looks directly at me, and I swear I hear him say, “What’s your hurry?” I get the hint, sit back and relax as he wags his tail and slowly moseys along.
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Three Key Steps to Social Media
As Government 2.0 booms and social media grabs at us public affairs professionals in the military, we are having a blast branching out in ways we never have before. We are Tweeting, Flickring, Youtubing, Facebooking and blogging!
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Americans and British Gather Together to Pay Homage to American Veterans
Did you know there are over 23 million United States veterans still living today and more than 25 million who are no longer with us? Did you know more the 621,000 Americans gave their lives in battle?
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Your Questions on Afghanistan and Russia
First, let us clearly understand that EVERY nation in NATO is "in the fight" in Afghanistan. This is a committed alliance.
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From the Doc
As the European Command Surgeon, you can imagine the H1N1 pandemic is high on my priority list. I’d like to take just a moment to share with you what we at European Command are doing to protect our forces and our families as well as the frequent questions and concerns I hear about the H1N1 pandemic.
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Our Veterans, Our Defenders of Freedom
Happy Veterans Day to all of those who are serving and who have served! Maj. Kristi Beckman is the Chief of Social Media for European Command Public Affairs
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Remembering what's important...
The cold days of winter are fast approaching here in Germany. Heck…they’re already here! Man it's cold already! For a lot of folks, it's good news because it also means that ski season has arrived as well. One of the great perks about living in Southern Germany is that world class slopes are only a few hours away! And this year, with Veterans Day falling smack in the middle of the work week, many families are taking advantage of an opportunity to get a 10-day vacation while missing only two school days. You see, here in Stuttgart, kids were off school last Friday, Nov. 6 and they are off Nov 11-13 as well. Count it up!
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Building Capacity through Innovation: One Approach to Multinational Logistics
About a year ago, EUCOM’s Logistics directorate worked with the Czech Republic at the 2008 Senior NATO Logisticians’ Conference. The goal was to develop a Multinational Logistics Coordination Center where nations could collectively develop bilateral and multilateral support agreements to facilitate the operational employment and sustainment of forces for national or Alliance missions. As the year progressed, nations began to see a host of possibilities this center could offer.
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On this day...
I’m sitting here at work in Stuttgart, Germany, looking out at the snow. Well, I guess I’m not looking at it now as I’m typing, but you get the picture. It’s not sticking yet, but I think it just might. It was just a few months ago that I was running along the water in Tampa, Florida, and it was 80 degrees. It is interesting adjusting to the cold so quickly here! Brrrr!
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An Extraordinary Dinner in Berlin
In a small wood-paneled ballroom at the glittering Adlon Hotel of Berlin, a parade of speakers celebrated what is called in German “die Mauerfall” --"the fall of the wall." It came in the 60th year of the NATO Alliance, and was hosted by the Atlantic Council.
Comments: 1
Thanks for sharing this unique perspective on US-Canada relations. Living in San Antonio, I've wondered why we have an undefended border with Canada but we are building a wall between the US and Mexico. Hearing that so much dialogue and relationship building with Canada is going on might shed some light on the changes needed in our relationships with our neighbor to the south.