Atlantic Council blogs

Who best articulates why the Allies are in Afghanistan, Clinton or Espersen?

SECRETARY CLINTON:  Now, certainly, we know how hard this is and we believe that this is in our national security interest and the national security interest of our NATO allies and other partners who have voluntarily joined ISAF for this effort. No one likes war.

Retired diplomats criticize Erdoğan’s language, foreign policy

By Zaman

From Zaman:  Several senior retired diplomats rebuked Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday for using “hollow” language and sneering at diplomats, criticizing the government’s foreign policy in a written statement.

U.S.-Russia Relations Under the Obama Administration

By Philip H. Gordon, the Department of State

From Philip H. Gordon, the Department of State:  When President Obama came into office less than six months after the Georgia war, U.S.-Russian relations were at their lowest point in years and perhaps in the post-Cold War period.

Borut Grgic: Azerbaijan as a Source for Natural Gas

By Borut Grgic

Borut Grgic, nonresident senior fellow at Atlantic Council, was recently interviewed by the Azeri Press Agency of Azerbaijan. The interview transcript is presented below. “Turkey is already over dependent on Russia, so Ankara is keen to receive gas from Azerbaijan” – Azerbaijan and Turkey have recently signed a package of agreements on gas supplies to […]

When Smart Power Meets Dumb Bureaucracies

By Derek Reveron

Prior to coming to office, the Obama team emphasized the importance of smart power. For example, now-Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michelle Flournoy argued for establishing “a robust interagency process for strategy, planning, and budgeting that would enable the United States to assess long-term threats and opportunities, set clear priorities, allocate and manage risk, develop […]

U.S. Official: the Kyrgyz Government is Having “Trouble Exercising Command over the Security Forces”

By Clifford J. Levy, the New York Times

From Clifford J. Levy, the New York Times:  The provisional Kyrgyz government has lost control of large areas in the southern part of the country because of its failure to quell attacks that have killed at least several hundred ethnic Uzbeks, and possibly many more. As many as 400,000 have fled their homes. … On […]

NATO Secretary General Urges Dutch Leaders to “Remain Militarily Involved in Afghanistan”

By Reuters

From Reuters:  The Dutch Labour party left the Dutch cabinet in February because it did not want the mission in the Afghan province of Uruzgan to continue beyond August. A new government is being formed after a parliamentary election held last week. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told the Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad that his […]

Gates: Europe could face hundreds of Iranian missiles

By Reuters

From Reuters:  Citing the growing Iranian missile threat, the United States announced plans last September to integrate sea- and land-based missile defenses in and around its NATO allies in Europe, referred to as the "phased adaptive approach." "One of the elements of the intelligence that contributed to the decision on the phased adaptive array (approach) […]

Clinton: Reports of limits on U.S. missile defense deployments “Dead wrong”

By Josh Rogin, Foreign Policy

From Josh Rogin, Foreign Policy:  The Gertz story became a focus of the Senate Armed Services committee hearing Thursday with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, and Joint Chiefs chairman Michael Mullen.

EU approves new sanctions on Iran

By the AP

From the AP:  The European Union on Thursday adopted new sanctions against Iran, the latest in a series of measures taken by the international community in an effort to halt the country’s nuclear program. The restrictions come on top of a fourth round of sanctions imposed last week by the U.N. Security Council to curtail […]