Atlantic Council blogs

A Hollow “Reset” with Russia

By Robert Kagan, the Washington Post

From Robert Kagan, the Washington Post:  [F]ew accomplishments have been more oversold than the Obama administration’s "success" in getting Russia to agree, for the fourth time in five years, to another vacuous U.N. Security Council resolution. It is being trumpeted as a triumph of the administration’s "reset" of the U.S.-Russian relationship, the main point of […]

Ukraine to Build Up Cooperation with NATO to Reform Armed Forces

By RIA Novosti

National Security Strategy Preview

By Derek Reveron

Rumors have President Obama’s National Security Strategy, which is about a year overdue, finally being released tomorrow. After 16 months in office, the president has given many hints, most notably his Nobel Peace Prize address that emphasized international cooperation. In Oslo, he said: “America cannot insist that others follow the rules of the road if […]

More Than 2,000 Belarusian Soldiers to Participate in CSTO’s Rapid Reaction Force

By RIA Novosti

From RIA Novosti: Belarus will contribute more than 2,000 troops to the post-Soviet security group’s rapid reaction force, the country’s defense minister, Yury Zhadobin, said on Wednesday. The Belarusian parliament finally ratified earlier on Wednesday an agreement on the creation of the rapid reaction force as part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The […]

Central Asia Dispute Disrupts NATO Afghan Supplies

By  Reuters

From Reuters:  A dispute between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan has left hundreds of railway carriages with supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan stranded in Central Asia, a Tajik railway official told Reuters. … "As of May 24, 2,500 carriages bound for Tajikistan are being held on the territory of the Uzbek railways," Usmon Kalandarov, deputy head of […]

Russian Paratroopers to Undergo Training in NATO Countries

By  Interfax

From Interfax: Russian paratroopers are preparing to travel to the United States, Germany and other countries to undergo advanced training, Airborne Troops Commander Lt. Gen. Vladimir Shamanov said. "The General Staff has ordered training to be organized for our servicemen with foreign armed forces and within the framework of the Russia-NATO format," Shamanov told the press […]

Pakistan’s Bloody Alphabet Soup

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

The Pakistani army showed no hesitation about pursuing and killing Taliban insurgents everywhere except in North Waziristan, one of the seven tribal areas where different terrorist groups have long enjoyed a privileged sanctuary. When Pakistani army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was in Washington six weeks ago, he briefed his American interlocutors on the army’s […]

Onward to Kandahar

By Don Snow

The United States and its ISAF allies are inching closer to the next big battleground in Afghanistan–the assault on Kandahar City. Kandahar, of course, is both the hometown of Afghan President and sometimes U.S. buddy Hamid Karzai and the main urban redoubt of the Taliban. This juxtaposition in itself creates the parameters for the mission […]

Barack Obama Overruled “No-Spying” Pact with France

By the Telegraph

From the Telegraph:  [Former U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dennis] Blair proposed an unprecedented written pledge even more binding than the post-war "gentlemen’s agreement" between the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand as trusted partners who do not spy on each other.