Atlantic Council blogs

America’s Uncertain Trumpet

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

No better proof of a dysfunctional — and broke — system of government than the U.S. Congress passing additional funding for the Afghan war — $300 billion thus far — while simultaneously denying the unemployed an extension of benefits — and then taking a 10-day Independence Day vacation. With the jobless hovering just less than […]

Why Is Turkey Funding Muslim Preachers in Germany?

By Paul Hockenos, Foreign Policy

From Paul Hockenos, Foreign Policy:  For decades, no one in Germany took much notice of the imported Islamic holy men in their midst. Turkey’s Presidency of Religious Affairs sent imams inconspicuously, on four-year postings, to minister to the spiritual needs of West Germany’s Turkish migrant workers and their families — while keeping them in line […]

NATO Wants To Increase Cooperation With South Korea, Non-Members

By Yonhap News Agency

From Yonhap News Agency:  The world’s biggest military alliance, NATO, is looking to increase cooperation with South Korea and other partners beyond Europe and North America to meet global challenges such as proliferation and piracy, a senior NATO official said Tuesday. "Our security interests and security interests of countries like Korea coincide today more than […]

Poland Elections Victory for EU

By James Joyner

Bronislaw Komorowski’s victory over Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin brother of  former president Lech Kaczynski, who was killed in a tragic plane crash in April, is good news for economic reform and integration with the EU.

Interim Ballistic Missile Defence for NATO forces ‘expected to be operational by the end of the year’

By ThalesRaytheonSystems

From ThalesRaytheonSystems:  ThalesRaytheonSystems (TRS) has been awarded a contract by NATO’s Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defence (ALTBMD) Programme Office to provide the alliance commanders with real-time interim ballistic missile defence capabilities for deployed forces by the end of 2010.

Can NATO Be Saved?

By Sarwar Kashmeri

Sarwar Kashmeri, Senior Fellow with the Atlantic Council’s International Security Program, was interviewed by Vermont Public Radio about NATO, its future, and how it could be saved by allying with the EU’s Common Security and Defense Policy. You can listen to the interview using the audio player below, or read the transcript that follows. Audio […]

Clinton and Putin disagree on ‘occupation’ of Georgia

By Hillary Clinton, the State Department

Turning East, Turkey Asserts Economic Power

By Landon Thomas Jr., the New York Times

From Landon Thomas Jr., the New York Times:  For many in aging and debt-weary Europe, which will be lucky to eke out a little more than 1 percent growth this year, Turkey’s economic renaissance — last week it reported a stunning 11.4 percent expansion for the first quarter, second only to China — poses a […]

NATO Chief: ‘We don’t need forces that are stuck in barracks’

By Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO

From Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO:  Ladies and gentlmen, Afghanistan will remain NATO’s operational priority for some time to come. But while we must do everything in our power to succeed in Afghanistan, we must also look at the broader security picture.

The Significance of Afghnistan to Transatlantic Security

By Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO

From Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO:  The Second World War finally brought home what the First World War should already have taught us:  the security of Europe and North America is indivisible.  Instability and insecurity on one side of the Atlantic will inevitably affect the other side of the “big pond”.