Europe

George Robertson, the new man for NATO

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ABOUT two years ago, soon after becoming defence secretary in Britain's new Labour government, George Robertson told journalists in Washington that he was bemused by the jargon his job involved. “Nobody in my constituency [blue-collar Hamilton, south of Glasgow] ever mentions inter-operability,” he lamented, in his thick Scottish accent. “Now I hear about it all the time.”

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “George Robertson, the new man for NATO”

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From the August 7th 1999 edition

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