Biden's Munich role: Reinvigorate NATO ties (AP/Yahoo)

[eppur_se_muova]

By ROBERT BURNS and STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writers Robert Burns And Steven R. Hurst, Associated Press Writers – Wed Jan 28, 4:45 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Hoping for a fresh start with Europe, the Obama administration is sending a more high-powered delegation, led by Vice President Joe Biden, to Germany for an annual talkfest on foreign and defense policy.

In the Bush years, the gathering was sometimes a showcase for U.S.-European friction.

Biden, a former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and deeply versed in U.S. policy abroad, also will push allies to hoist a greater share of the diplomatic, military and economic burdens confronting President Barack Obama.

The United States usually sends its secretary of defense because military issues have been at the center of the conference agenda. But the White House announced on Tuesday that Biden would lead this year's delegation, accompanied by Obama's national security adviser, retired Gen. James Jones, who has attended past conferences as a senior Pentagon official and later as the top NATO commander.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the only Bush administration holdover who attended each of the last two years, is not going.
***
more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090128/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_europe_1

Hey, we're talking to our allies again!

:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

Glad we still have some.

[Muttocracy]

1. nice symbol of not being led by our military but by our diplomats! :)

[notesdev]

2. NATO is an anachronism

Like so much of our defense posture, NATO is an organization that no longer has a reason to exist. There is no more Red Menace, no more Communists ready to roll tanks over Europe. All it does now is waste resources and fruitlessly antagonize Russia, while binding us to commitments we cannot keep.

I mean seriously, does anyone think we'd go nuclear over the former Soviet republic of Georgia?