Atlantic Council blogs

Rwandan Election: Proper Perspective Needed

It has been little more than a week since incumbent Paul Kagame won Rwanda’s August 9 presidential election with 93% of the vote. It was not a vote for an open, Western style democracy but rather one for continued security and stability, which, not surprisingly, are highly valued by Rwandans since the 1994 genocide.

Kyrgyzstan Approaches Kremlin-led Security Org. for Help

By Olga Dzyubenko and Alexei Anishchuk, Reuters

Russia Opens Bidding for Warship Deal

By AFP, via DefenseNews

From AFP, via DefenseNews: Russia is throwing open its planned purchase of a helicopter carrier to a tender involving foreign and Russian firms, ending France’s status as the exclusive bidder, a shipbuilding official said Aug. 19. Russia has been negotiating with France for months to buy the Mistral-class ships, in its first ever purchase of […]

As Others Plan Troop Recalls, Romania Stands Behind Afghanistan Mission

By Tony Perry, LA Times

From Tony Perry, LA Times: As Romanian military and civilian officials mingled at a VIP reception aboard a yacht that belonged to executed dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, a U.S. Navy band played an American selection: the Gershwins, Cole Porter and Broadway show tunes.

Transatlantic Relations from German Perspective

By Sarwar Kashmeri

In a recent installment of the New Atlanticist Podcast Series Atlantic Council senior fellow Sarwar Kashmeri interviews Irmtraud Richardson, Brussels-based correspondent for German public radio and television service ARD. Richardson discusses Germany’s outlook on the EU, as well as the state of U.S.-German and U.S.-EU relations.

Bombing Iran Would Have Unintended Consequences

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

For the first two weeks of August, the Internet buzzed with "inside knowledge" of an Israeli airstrike against Iran’s nuclear facilities before the end of the month. One of most quoted warnings came from Philip Giraldi, a polyglot former CIA operative who writes for the American Conservative and is no friend of Israel. "We spend […]

Russia in talks to supply helicopters to NATO

By Richard Boudreaux, Wall Street Journal

From Richard Boudreaux, Wall Street Journal:  Russia is negotiating the sale of about 20 helicopters for Afghanistan, stepping up efforts to help the country’s U.S.-backed government battle the Taliban insurgency and drug traffickers. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that Russia also had begun supplying firearms for the Afghan Interior Ministry and for police training. […]

Romania orders Russian diplomat out of country

By RIA Novosti

From RIA Novosti:  Bucharest has declared a Russian diplomat persona non grata in yet another spy scandal after Moscow detained a Romanian official on similar grounds, a Romanian news agency reported on Wednesday. MEDIAFAX said that the first secretary of the Russian Embassy in Bucharest, Anatoly Akopov, was declared persona non grata in a tit-for-tat […]

A Mission to Modernize Germany’s Armed Forces

By Judy Dempsey, New York Times

From Judy Dempsey, New York Times:  On Friday, the German defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, is set to present to Chancellor Angela Merkel his plans to modernize the Bundeswehr, the country’s armed forces. From all accounts, it could be one of the most radical and long overdue shake-ups undertaken in decades by a defense minister. […]