“With events that took your breath away almost daily, my four years at NATO turned into a tumultuous professional experience, particularly demanding and, at the same time, extremely interesting. I dare say that especially the three years from 2001 to 2003 changed the world as we used to know it. The terrorist attacks of September 11 changed everything.

They introduced new asymmetric threats, new international balances, new ways of thinking and new policies, new methods in diplomatic relations and crisis management. In a word, they overturned everything that was known until then. Furthermore, they created and strengthened reactionary and disruptive forces, primarily in the Arab world, with long-term, particularly negative consequences that we are experiencing today.”

Ambassador Vasilis Kaskarelis, Permanent Representative of our country to NATO during the period 2000-2004, records his personal experience of a four-year term that changed the world. The principles and practices of international diplomacy, Greece’s priorities, the weight of developments, and the individuals tasked with managing them: With a direct style and concise language, the author takes us behind the cameras, shedding light on the behind-the-scenes of the international organization and outlining the factors that shaped today’s reality.