If you haven't seen our latest Ground Hounds episode, watch it now.  The first dispatch we've had from a Ground Hound abroad, videographer George Turner takes us to the Young Atlanticists Summit in Bucharest during the recent NATO Summit.  From their website:

As world leaders met this April for the largest NATO summit in Alliance history, future leaders from across the Euro-Atlantic region and Afghanistan convened in Bucharest to grapple with the major security issues facing the Atlantic Community today and to launch an innovative on-line community – the Young Atlanticist Network.  The Young Atlanticist Summit, held in conjunction with the official NATO Summit, brought together over 120 students and young professionals representing NATO and Partnership for Peace countries, as well as top students from the University of Kabul.  They had an extraordinary opportunity to meet directly with national and Alliance decision-makers and to build consensus on critical issues in the Alliance. Delegates at the Young Atlanticist Summit issued statements addressing the Alliance role in energy security , the controversy over the Macedonian name , and mechanisms for building closer relations between Alliance and Afghan publics.

The Young Atlanticists discussed current Alliance priorities and challenges with a wide range of leaders, including Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Supreme Allied Commander General John Craddock, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, U.S. President George W. Bush, Dutch PM Jan Peter Balkenende, Albanian PM Sali Berisha, Estonian President Toomas Ilves, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband, and U.S. First Lady Laura Bush. Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu and President Traian Basescu also met with the group, the latter at the official summit's North Atlantic Council table.

Reaching out through the first ever videoconference link with the University of Kabul, the Young Atlanticists learned about the many challenges affecting the security of that country and heard Afghan perspectives on the type of assistance most needed by Kabul.  At the end of the Young Atlanticist Summit, a joint declaration was issued calling for the creation of a network of Afghan youth that could be linked to the Youth Atlantic Treaty Association network in order to strengthen links between civil societies.

This isn't just an on-the-ground report of what's happening, it's something that starts the conversation about what could be happening and the future we have to achieve it.  When I first saw Turner's video, I was captivated - this is the kind of thing that should be everywhere.... but it's not, making this a very special Ground Hounds episode.  We hope you enjoy it.