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Atlantic Council blogs provide short-form analyses from Council experts and a wider community of global voices on the world’s most important news stories.
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NATOSource

Aug 7, 2011

Update: NATO activities in Libya on August 5

By NATO

New Atlanticist

Aug 6, 2011

Life in the AA+ League: What a Debt Downgrade Means to You

By Alexei Monsarrat

How bad is it going to be with a AA+ credit rating?  The answer to that question depends on what you’re concerned about.  The economy: If you’re worried that economic ruin is now upon us, then you can breathe easy (for now).  Traders and economists broadly agree that the impact on borrowing rates for the U.S. […]

Economy & Business United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Aug 6, 2011

S&P Downgrades USA; Time to Downgrade S&P?

By James Joyner

Standard & Poor’s judges that the American political system is a mess and that there should be long-term concern about its public debt. It’s hard to argue with that. But would investors really be better off buying Liechtenstein’s bonds than America’s? On what basis? S&P says the downgrade “reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that […]

Economy & Business United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Aug 6, 2011

Crisis? What Crisis? How to Save a Debt-Drowning Planet

By Julian Lindley-French

In late 1979, with the public service unions on strike and with the national debt spiraling out of control, Britain began to resemble a toilet. Prime Minister Jim Callaghan returned from a ‘summit’ in Guadeloupe (they never seem to hold summits in Rotherham or Detroit). The Sun, one of Britain’s Murdoch tabloid newspapers, famed for […]

Economy & Business

NATOSource

Aug 5, 2011

Canada begins annual arctic sovereignty exercise, Operation Nanook

By Canada’s Ministry of Defense

From Canada’s Ministry of Defense:  Operation Nanook commenced today when a combined Naval Task Group set sail from St. John’s, Newfoundland, towards Canada’s Eastern and High Arctic, where other personnel and equipment from the Army, Air Force, and Canadian Rangers will converge over the month of August.

United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Aug 5, 2011

Ales Byalyatski, 2011 Atlantic Council Freedom Awardee, Arrested in Belarus

By The Editors

On August 4, Belarusian authorities detained Ales Byalyatski, Chairman of the Human Rights Center “Viasna,” and a recipient of a 2011 Atlantic Council Freedom Award. In June, Byalyatski accepted the Council’s Freedom Award for Viasna’s extraordinary work and in recognition of his long-time struggle for human rights in Belarus. Representatives from Viasna, the Belarusian Association […]

NATOSource

Aug 5, 2011

Rogozin: NATO plans campaign in Syria, tightens noose around Iran

By RIA Novosti

International Organizations Politics & Diplomacy

NATOSource

Aug 5, 2011

Kosovo, Serbia reach border deal, local Serbs object

By Branislav Krstic and Fatos Bytyci, Reuters

From Branislav Krstic and Fatos Bytyci, Reuters:  Kosovo and Serbia said on Friday they had reached a temporary deal to ease tensions in Kosovo’s north and allow NATO to continue to guard two border posts following recent violence.

New Atlanticist

Aug 5, 2011

Al-Qaeda’s North African franchise moves south

By J. Peter Pham

British and Italian officials are checking a video received Thursday by Agence France-Presse which, if authenticated, will confirm not only the fate of two Westerners abducted in Nigeria in May, but the worrisome fact that al-Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), has now extended its reach into Nigeria.  While the Foreign Office […]

Africa Extremism

New Atlanticist

Aug 5, 2011

4 Steps Merkel and Sarkozy Should Take Now

By Alexei Monsarrat

Wall Street Journal reports that German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy are to speak today “with the ‘current situation in the euro zone’ among the issues to be discussed.”  They have much to talk about.

European Union International Organizations