, Columnist
A New Cold War Is Not Inevitable
Top NATO and Russian military commanders have agreed to meet. Here's what they need to discuss.
Coming to a negotiating table near your.
Photographer: Sergei Grits/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
When I served as Supreme Allied Commander at NATO from 2009 to 2013, I developed a friendly relationship with the head of the Russian armed forces, General Nikolai Makarov. He was a short, barrel-chested man with a congenial personal style, and given my own somewhat compact physique, I could at least tell my boss, Secretary of Defense Bob Gates, that I literally saw things “eye to eye” with my Russian counterpart. Our meetings occurred both in Moscow and several times in Brussels at NATO headquarters. I also had him over to my official residence in Mons, Belgium, where too much vodka was drank but we continued to have meaningful conversations (at least in the early parts of the evening).