Atlantic Council blogs

Conscription in Germany may be on the way out

By the Economist

From the Economist:  This month the German legislature passed a law shortening the tour of duty from nine months to six. That was the result of an awkward compromise between the partners in the ruling coalition.

New & Improved European Parliament? The View From Europe

By Scott Bleiweis

Last week’s approval of the SWIFT agreement demonstrates Parliament’s implementation of the “co-decision” powers granted by last December’s Lisbon Treaty. But what does its new status really mean? Several MEPs provided their takes to the BBC. Diana Wallis from the U.K. believes, [T]he European Parliament has clearly been the big winner, with new powers as […]

Europe falls out of love with Barack Obama

By Nile Gardiner, the Telegraph

Sanctions Alone Won’t Work on Iran

By Charles S. Robb and Charles Wald

Russian military denies ‘illusion of power’

By Bill Gertz, the Washington Times

From Bill Gertz, the Washington Times:  The Russian military responded to comments in this space last week by Navy Adm. James Winnefeld, commander of the U.S. Northern Command, who stated that increases of Russian strategic bomber flights near the U.S. and Canada airspace over the past several years were an attempt by Moscow to maintain […]

German Business Moves Beyond Russia to China

By Judy Dempsey, the New York Times

EU officials assure Turkey over accession

By AFP

From AFP:  EU officials assured Turkey Tuesday over its troubled bid to join the bloc and praised the country’s growing regional role after claims the lagging progress was pushing Ankara away from the West. The commitment came after a meeting in Istanbul between EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, enlargement commissioner Stefan Fule, Turkish Foreign […]

Troop pullout deadline working, Sen. Levin says

By  Nathan Hurst, the Detroit News

From Nathan Hurst, the Detroit News:  The July 2011 deadline for beginning to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan has helped stabilize the war-torn nation’s security, Sen. Carl Levin said Tuesday. "The Afghans must be in charge … with their own troops," Levin, D-Detroit, said during a Tuesday breakfast in Washington sponsored by the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor […]

Bulgaria’s former prime minister charged over missing state, NATO secrets

By Tsvetelia Tsolova, Reuters

U.S. deports alleged 12th Russian spy, a former Microsoft employee

By Jerry Markon, the Washington Post

From Jerry Markon, the Washington Post:  Federal authorities detained a 12th person in their investigation of a Russian spy ring in the United States, and he has been deported to Russia, U.S. law enforcement officials said Tuesday. The man, Alexey Karetnikov, entered the United States in October and was living in the Seattle area, where […]