James Stavridis is a retired four-star U.S. Navy admiral and NATO supreme allied commander who serves today as the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. His latest book is The Leader's Bookshelf.
KONYA, TURKEY - MAY 12: A F-16 plane belonging to the Turkish Air Forces is seen in the sky during the NATO Tiger Meet 2015 drill press tour at the Konya 3rd Main Jet Base Command in Konya, Turkey on May 12, 2015. France, Italy, NATO, Poland, Switzerland, Holland and Turkish Armed Forces took part in the NATO Tiger Meet 2015 drill press tour. The Turkish Air Forces participated in the drill with its sixteen F-16 planes. (Photo by)
Soldiers walk at the national stadium where the NATO summit takes place in Warsaw, Poland on July 9, 2016.
The Polish capital hosts a two-day NATO summit, the first time ever that it hosts a top-level meeting of the Western military alliance which it joined in 1999. / AFP / STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN (Photo credit should read STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP/Getty Images)
Members of the US units take a souvenir photo after the opening ceremony of the Exercise Noble Partner 16, a Georgian, British and U.S. military training exercise taking place at Vaziani Training Area, Georgia, May 11-26, 2016.
Exercise Noble Partner includes approximately 500 Georgian, 150 United Kingdom and 650 U.S. service members who are incorporating a full range of equipment, including U.S. M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tanks, M2A3 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, M119 Light Towed Howitzers and several wheeled support vehicles. Alongside U.S. forces, Georgian forces will operate their T-72 Main Battle Tanks, BMP-2 Infantry Combat Vehicles and several wheeled-support vehicles.
Wednesday, 11 May 2016, in Vaziani, Georgia. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin walks near a new Russian fighter jet Sukhoi T-50, after its flight in Zhukovksy, outside Moscow on June 17, 2010. AFP PHOTO / RIA NOVOSTI / POOL / ALEXEY DRUZHININ (Photo credit should read ALEXEY DRUZHININ/AFP/Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FL - MARCH 05: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the CFE Arena during a campaign stop on the campus of the University of Central Florida on March 5, 2016 in Orlando, Florida. Primary voters head to the polls on March 15th in Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Saudi army artillery fire shells towards Yemen from a post close to the Saudi-Yemeni border, in southwestern Saudi Arabia, on April 13, 2015 . Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition of several Arab countries which since March 26 has carried out air strikes against the Shiite Huthis rebels, who overran the capital Sanaa in September and have expanded to other parts of Yemen. AFP PHOTO / FAYEZ NURELDINE (Photo credit should read FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images)
Workers are digging a trench on the northern Iraqi border with Syria to prevent people from crossing over into Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, on April 13, 2014 in Zakho. AFP PHOTO/SAFIN HAMED (Photo credit should read )
Moscow, RUSSIAN FEDERATION: Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech in Red Square in Moscow, 09 May 2007, during the annual celebration of the end of World War II. Putin took a veiled swipe at Estonia 09 May 2007 during celebrations of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. "Those who are trying today to diminish this invaluable experience, to desecrate memorials to war heroes, are insulting their own people, sowing discord and new distrust between states and people," Putin said at a massive military parade on Red Square. AFP PHOTO / ITAR-TASS / PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE (Photo credit should read DMITRY ASTAKHOV/AFP/Getty Images)
Refugees arrive on the shore of Sykamias beach, west of the port city of Mytilini, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey on September 20, 2015 in Lesvos Island, Greece. At least 13 migrants -- six of them children -- drowned off Turkey Sunday after the inflatable dinghy carrying them to Greece was hit in the dark by a Turkish-flagged ship, Turkish media reported. AFP PHOTO / IAKOVOS HATZISTAVROU (Photo credit should read IAKOVOS HATZISTAVROU/AFP/Getty Images)
American soldiers move on a street January 19, 2010. January 19, 2010 in Port-au-Prince. In all, "approximately 11,000 U.S. military personnel are currently supporting task force operations within Haiti and from US Navy and Coast Guard vessels off shore," US Southern Command said on its website January 19, 2010. AFP PHOTO / OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI (Photo credit should read Olivier Laban mattei/AFP/Getty Images)
PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA - OCTOBER 10: (CHINA OUT) North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un waves from a balcony towards participants of a mass military parade at Kim Il-Sung square to mark the 70th anniversary of its ruling Worker's Party of Korea on October 10, 2015 in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images)
BAGHDAD, Iraq: A Iraqi boy shakes hands with a US soldier during the Food Distribution Mission operated by Alpha Company, 425th Civil Affairs Company and 304th PYSOP Company of Task Force 4-64 Armor in Baghdad's Janain area, 29 August 2005. AFP PHOTO/LIU Jin (Photo credit should read LIU JIN/AFP/Getty Images)
Venezuelan opposition supporters celebrate the results of the legislative election in Caracas, on the early morning December 7, 2015. Venezuela's opposition won --at least--a majority of 99 out of 167 seats in the state legislature, electoral authorities said Monday, the first such shift in power in congress in 16 years. AFP PHOTO/LUIS ROBAYO / AFP / LUIS ROBAYO (Photo credit should read LUIS ROBAYO/AFP/Getty Images)
US Secretary of State John Kerry (back) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) take their seats at the president's office during a meeting in Ankara on September 12, 2014. Kerry arrived in Ankara for talks aimed at building a coalition against Islamic State jihadists, a visit that comes after Turkey said it would not allow its air bases to be used for strikes on the extremists. AFP PHOTO/POOL/Brendan SMIALOWSKI (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)
