Ahead of the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago I was scheduled to debate with (against) Appathurai while he was the NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia and William Burns, then former American ambassador to NATO and now ambassador to China. But they were replaced with two Atlanticist academics. The debate as it occurred is below.

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Georgian Ministry of Defense
April 20, 2022

The Ministry of Defense of Georgia hosted James Appathurai

The Ministry of Defense of Georgia is hosting James Appathurai, NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Increasing Security Challenges. The sides discussed the ongoing war in Ukraine and the difficult security environment created in the region as a result. Particular attention was paid to the hybrid threats from Russia, the means of dealing with it and the importance of deepening practical NATO-Georgia cooperation in this context, which serves to strengthen Georgia ‘s resilience and defense capabilities.

At the meeting, the Deputy Ministers of Defense of Georgia Lela Chikovani and Davit Sujashvili spoke about the priority directions of defense transformation…Emphasis was placed on the progress made in developing cyber defense capabilities and the important role of support for NATO and member states in the essential cyber security initiative of the NATO-Georgia package….

The NATO Assistant Secretary General praised Georgia’s defense reforms and the progress made in its practical cooperation with NATO, and reaffirmed the Alliance’s readiness to strengthen its support for practical cooperation with Georgia, including further improving its hybrid and cyber security capabilities.