So I participated in the NATO Youth summit in Strasbourg, France the last two days. I wrote an article for the Bulldog Weekly about the first day, this is what I wrote:
Thousands of rioters fought the cops in the streets of London following the G-20 Summit Wednesday, and as such acts of rebellion usually go, they got bloodied-up, beat down and from what I saw on the television, they didn’t look all too jolly.
Thousands of rioters fought the cops in the streets of London following the G-20 Summit Wednesday, and as such acts of rebellion usually go, they got bloodied-up, beat down and from what I saw on the television, they didn’t look all too jolly.
A day later, the preliminary sessions of the NATO Summit began in Strasbourg, France, which I attended with the IES-EU program for a youth summit titled, “NATO in 2020: What Lies Ahead?”.
We mostly heard NATO propaganda in a brief four-member panelist discussion, followed by student questions. Then we heard a similar discussion with similar questions fielded by the keynote speaker, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the Secretary General of NATO.
And after all this international-collective-security business was done, the good folks at NATO treated us to closing cocktails. This pretty much meant that we were entitled to all the little hand foods and wine we could get our paws on.
And since America is the chief contributor to NATO, and since I’m an American, and since I keep getting these emails from my mom about how much I owe in taxes by April 14, I figured this was a good opportunity to eat and drink as much of my NATO tax money as possible.
It was a good time, most because of the international youths I met. There were roughly 30 nationalities participating in the conference. The Canadians and the French were a hoot.
So then we returned to Freiburg, which is an hour southeast of Strasbourg via bus. It is late as I pound out this column, and in just five hours I’m due to catch a bus again to Strasbourg where an estimated number of 30,000 protestors wait to demonstrate against NATO. Officials in Strasbourg have pooled security forces from neighboring cities in Germany and France, in fear similar riots as those in London.
Besides the protestors and the securities forces, also waiting in Strasbourg to deliver a speech Friday is the President of the United States.
Barack Obama is his name, I think.
I’ll have to look that up.
Here is a link to the NATO website about the youth summit: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/news_52387.htm
The second day began all too soon for me. I had to be at the bus station at 6:10 in the morning. This was especially tolling since I didn’t go to sleep until nearly two in the morning the night before. We had not arrived back in Freiburg until 11 pm and then I had to write a column for the Bulldog Weekly.
Well I slept through my alarm and then woke up finally at 6:10, frantic but still in a morning daze. I threw on my business formal clothes, grabbed my passport, NATO Pass (if we forgot our NATO Pass we would not have been allowed back in the summit, the security was very tight), and invitation to the Barack Obama Town Hall meeting. I raced down to the bus stop across the street and was relieved to find that the bus was running late. So I was fine. But I realized that, in the panic of the morning, I had forgotten my camera. So I’m without personal pictures of the day. Many people took pictures though, so I’m sure I’ll find some to bum for this blog.
We heard from some top notch military and security planners, and even heard, in the morning session, an impassioned speech delivered in French – I understood via the translation – by Bernard-Henri Levy, a proclaimed philosopher, writer and columnist. To be frank: the man was a little off the reservation. Noble in his ideas, no doubt, but he put such an emphasis on human rights that he suggested we – comfortable western nations – sacrifice everything to bring these rights to the people of every nation. Of course there are different cultures and traditions to take into consideration, and the personal sacrifice of the soldiers and their families from the nations expected to carry out such missions, but he truly believed what he was saying, it seemed. The other five members of the panel largely disagreed with Levy, and for good reason. America and Europe can’t afford to fight a million fronts. We have a tough enough time handling two in the same – the Middle East – global region as it is, not to mention our global security commitments. But to listen to a “French philosopher (whatever that means)” deliver an impassioned speech in French was interesting, funny and an overall good experience.
The rest of the speakers spoke in English, which was nice. They all seemed to be much more legitimate and educated in security matters relating to NATO.
After two of these panel discussions, we then grabbed ham and cheese sandwiches to-go and then walked to the arena where President Obama was to deliver a short speech and then field answers and questions.
For reasons I probably don’t need to explain, I was excited. I felt like a five year old kid going to a major league baseball game. This was the first time I saw a President of the United States in person. I had never even seen a former president, or a person to be president, in person. Those campaign rallies just don’t really make it out to blue old California too often, much less Riverside or San Bernardino counties.
The security detail was like airport security times two, but it wasn’t too much to ask, and perfectly understandable. We shuffled into the area and waited for over an hour for the security people to seat the few thousand spectators. Then President Obama appeared, the crowd went wild, he delivered a speech, fielded five questions and then left the building.
I sat behind the President’s podium, but a little ways up in the audience. I’m not in the frame of the video camera, but I am somewhere in the middle of the large picture I stole and posted at the top of this blog from the NY Times. Here is the link to the New York Times article about the event; I believe a video is included: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/world/europe/04prexy.html?hp
It didn’t take soon to realize that what the talking-heads on CNN said of Barack Obama is true. He may be a once in a lifetime communicator. He does connect with a crowd, about weighty issues, in an astounding way. It was one thing to have seen him speak many times on television, but quite another to be there, especially since it was a rather intimate setting compared to some of his Super Bowl type speeches.
I, of course, being the cynical student I am, question some of his ideas about how to fix the U.S. and world economy, but I do hope he’s right, and that my doubts are wrong. He’s proved me wrong before. That said; there are some things that he’s doing for the economy and the war in Afghanistan that I very much support.
But no matter how I feel about the policies of the President, to see him in person, and to hear him speak, is a memory I’ll forever keep.
Here is a link to the NATO website about the youth summit: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/news_52387.htm
The second day began all too soon for me. I had to be at the bus station at 6:10 in the morning. This was especially tolling since I didn’t go to sleep until nearly two in the morning the night before. We had not arrived back in Freiburg until 11 pm and then I had to write a column for the Bulldog Weekly.
Well I slept through my alarm and then woke up finally at 6:10, frantic but still in a morning daze. I threw on my business formal clothes, grabbed my passport, NATO Pass (if we forgot our NATO Pass we would not have been allowed back in the summit, the security was very tight), and invitation to the Barack Obama Town Hall meeting. I raced down to the bus stop across the street and was relieved to find that the bus was running late. So I was fine. But I realized that, in the panic of the morning, I had forgotten my camera. So I’m without personal pictures of the day. Many people took pictures though, so I’m sure I’ll find some to bum for this blog.
We heard from some top notch military and security planners, and even heard, in the morning session, an impassioned speech delivered in French – I understood via the translation – by Bernard-Henri Levy, a proclaimed philosopher, writer and columnist. To be frank: the man was a little off the reservation. Noble in his ideas, no doubt, but he put such an emphasis on human rights that he suggested we – comfortable western nations – sacrifice everything to bring these rights to the people of every nation. Of course there are different cultures and traditions to take into consideration, and the personal sacrifice of the soldiers and their families from the nations expected to carry out such missions, but he truly believed what he was saying, it seemed. The other five members of the panel largely disagreed with Levy, and for good reason. America and Europe can’t afford to fight a million fronts. We have a tough enough time handling two in the same – the Middle East – global region as it is, not to mention our global security commitments. But to listen to a “French philosopher (whatever that means)” deliver an impassioned speech in French was interesting, funny and an overall good experience.
The rest of the speakers spoke in English, which was nice. They all seemed to be much more legitimate and educated in security matters relating to NATO.
After two of these panel discussions, we then grabbed ham and cheese sandwiches to-go and then walked to the arena where President Obama was to deliver a short speech and then field answers and questions.
For reasons I probably don’t need to explain, I was excited. I felt like a five year old kid going to a major league baseball game. This was the first time I saw a President of the United States in person. I had never even seen a former president, or a person to be president, in person. Those campaign rallies just don’t really make it out to blue old California too often, much less Riverside or San Bernardino counties.
The security detail was like airport security times two, but it wasn’t too much to ask, and perfectly understandable. We shuffled into the area and waited for over an hour for the security people to seat the few thousand spectators. Then President Obama appeared, the crowd went wild, he delivered a speech, fielded five questions and then left the building.
I sat behind the President’s podium, but a little ways up in the audience. I’m not in the frame of the video camera, but I am somewhere in the middle of the large picture I stole and posted at the top of this blog from the NY Times. Here is the link to the New York Times article about the event; I believe a video is included: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/world/europe/04prexy.html?hp
It didn’t take soon to realize that what the talking-heads on CNN said of Barack Obama is true. He may be a once in a lifetime communicator. He does connect with a crowd, about weighty issues, in an astounding way. It was one thing to have seen him speak many times on television, but quite another to be there, especially since it was a rather intimate setting compared to some of his Super Bowl type speeches.
I, of course, being the cynical student I am, question some of his ideas about how to fix the U.S. and world economy, but I do hope he’s right, and that my doubts are wrong. He’s proved me wrong before. That said; there are some things that he’s doing for the economy and the war in Afghanistan that I very much support.
But no matter how I feel about the policies of the President, to see him in person, and to hear him speak, is a memory I’ll forever keep.
I can't believe you forgot your camera!
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