Istanbul Airport, 26 June, 1700 Brussels Time

Sitting in Istanbul Airport waiting for the flight home.  The International Security Workshop again proved its worth with an interesting panel led by Middle East and Gulf Ambassadors on the problems of the region.  They were clearly thinking hard about the Obama Administration’s approach to Palestine, and deeply worried about the present situation in Iran.

I chaired a panel of NATO colleagues, focusing on the new Strategic Concept and the lessons from Afghanistan that would feed into it.  There was a lively debate, which fed into speeches by Ministers in the afternoon, on such things as the balance between Common Defence and expeditionary operations; how NATO can work better with other international organizations such as the UN and EU; and the Alliance’s response to new threats and challenges such as cyber-attack, energy security and climate change (on many of which other organizations will take the lead).  Underlying all this was the need for a further round of change and modernization of Alliance working methods and structures.  The Q & A showed that many misperceptions continue to exist about NATO’s role – too many people still hark back to the days of the Cold War.  One speaker suggested the new Strategic Concept should have a section focusing specifically on Public Diplomacy.

The lunch and final session of the Workshop covered IT issues and cyber-security, which struck a particular chord with me as a former electronic engineer. There were also many opportunities for bilateral contacts with old friends.  Now back to Brussels in preparation for departure tomorrow for a Ministerial meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in Corfu.  An interesting weekend!