Black Sea Symposium
Author: Mosaiko EditorPosted on: Jul 9th 2010
Greek text 
Dr. Stephen Larrabee from RAND Corporation, attended the Black Sea Symposium organized by the International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS) in Aegina from June 29 to July 4, 2010. The group of the young participants consisted of diplomats, academics, civil society leaders and researchers from 20 countries, including those of Black Sea region, EU member states, the United States, Australia and Uzbekistan. The young professionals had the opportunity to attend lectures and participate in workshops on topics such as security concerns, economic development, environment, energy and the role of NATO, Russia, and the European Union.
Mosaiko.gr met with Dr. Larrabee in Aegina and discussed RAND corporation, NATO and its role in the region.
Is this your first time to Greece? What do you expect to gain out of this Symposium?
It’s hardly my first time to Greece….”ήμουν καθηγητής στην Ελλάδα πριν 46 χρόνια στο Κολέγιο Αθηνών”
And what did you teach there?
English
And you speak Greek?
No, very little. I have forgotten most of it.
And how long where you here for?
I was here for a year in 1966-7 as a teacher in Athens College.
And this time around, what do you expect to gain out of this Symposium?
Well I was asked here to participate and give a presentation on Russia and also I’ve been doing a lot of work on RAND on the Black Sea region so I wanted to participate in a discussion, since there are a number of people here, mostly with participants coming from countries that surround the Black Sea. It’s a way to intensify my knowledge, meet scholars.
Can you tell us a few words about your work at the RAND Corporation?
I hold the corporate chair in European Security and a variety of security issues related to Russia, Ukraine, Southern Europe, Turkey and Greece.
Can you tell us what are the dominant issues facing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)?
Well one of the biggest and probably one of the most important is the future of Afghanistan. NATO’s role in Afghanistan. And there is also the larger issue of the strategic concept which NATO is working on now which will look at the changes in security, environment since the last strategic concept in 1999 and essentially updating the former strategic concept and look at the new changes in security and how they will affect NATO.
Has the recent economic crisis created problems in NATO’s capability to deal with the issues on hand?
Well, I wouldn’t say that it created problems in the capability but it will certainly result in many countries reducing the budgets and that will create some difficulties. It’s unclear how serious they will be but there is no doubt that for many countries as part of budget cutting, and obviously Greece in particular, will have to reduce their defense spending as part of the larger reduction.
Do you see any prospect of Ukraine and Georgia joining NATO?
Not in the near future. Georgia has been put in the back for the time being but the option of NATO membership in the long term remains open.
How does NATO see recent developments in energy transport lines in the region?
Well NATO hasn’t really taken a strong stand on energy security yet, but everyone realizes of course that it’s an important issue but NATO doesn’t really have a role, a defining role in energy security. It’s one of the issues that it’s being debated whether NATO should have a role and if so what kind of a role. But so far it doesn’t have a distinct role
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