Atlantic Council blogs

Atlantic Council blogs provide short-form analyses from Council experts and a wider community of global voices on the world’s most important news stories.
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New Atlanticist

Mar 25, 2010

Merkel Holds Ground Against 5 PIIGS, Club Med

By James Joyner

“The debate in Germany over Greece is polluting the atmosphere and creating anti-European feeling,” charges former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt.   “In the space of a few weeks, we are destroying all our efforts to bring Europe closer together,” he laments. This is indeed a stunning departure from the 1990s, when a reunited Germany was […]

New Atlanticist

Mar 25, 2010

Ukraine’s ‘Prorizna Street Rebellion’ Shows Democracy Internalized

By Alexander Motyl

Ukrainians are keeping a wary eye on the new government of Viktor Yanukovych following his victory in the two-round presidential election of January-February 2010. Some of them are also setting him an example of what collective action in the public interest can mean – and in central Kyiv, just one block away from the site […]

Ukraine

NATOSource

Mar 25, 2010

START Compromise to Include Missile Defense

By the Cable

From the Cable: Russia had been stalling the last stage of the negotiations over the issue, holding fast to its position that missile defense must be included in some way in the new treaty. The U.S. side has insisted the treaty be confined only to offensive systems. Meanwhile, the old agreement, known as the Strategic […]

United States and Canada

NATOSource

Mar 25, 2010

Hoon Dropped From NATO Panel After Scandal

By CNN

From CNN: NATO has dropped former British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon from a panel of policy experts after his involvement in a cash-for-lobbying scandal, a NATO spokesman said Thursday. Hoon and other members of the British Parliament were secretly filmed in a TV documentary offering to sell their government influence. The documentary, which aired Monday, […]

United Kingdom

NATOSource

Mar 25, 2010

WEU to be Disbanded

By the AFP

From the AFP: The Cold War-era Western European Union defence alliance, set up in the wake of World War II, is to cease functioning, its assembly’s head Robert Walter said on Wednesday. "The WEU as an organisation will be wound down within a year or so," said British parliamentarian Walter, who presides over the Paris-based […]

European Union International Organizations

NATOSource

Mar 25, 2010

NATO Rejects Russian Call for Afghan Poppy Spraying

By Reuters

From Reuters:  NATO on Wednesday rejected Russian calls for it to eradicate opium poppy fields in Afghanistan, saying the best way for Moscow to help control the drug would be to give more assistance against the insurgency. Russia’s anti-drugs czar, Victor Ivanov, met NATO ambassadors in Brussels and proposed that NATO troops be given a […]

NATOSource

Mar 24, 2010

Hoon Asked to Step Down From NATO Strategy Review Group

By Reuters

From Reuters: NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has asked former British defence secretary Geoff Hoon to step down from a group of experts drawing up NATO’s new mission statement after he was suspended from the Labour Party, a NATO spokesman said Wednesday. "It was the British government that nominated Mr Hoon to be one of […]

United Kingdom

NATOSource

Mar 24, 2010

International Missile Program Faces Billion Dollar Cost Overrun

By Reuters

From Reuters: The $19 billion U.S.-European MEADS missile development program is facing about $1 billion in added costs, according to officials briefed on the program, but the overrun should not breach congressional thresholds that would trigger a live-or-die review. Gregory Kee, general manager for the NATO agency that manages the Medium Extended Air Defense System […]

United States and Canada

NATOSource

Mar 24, 2010

NATO’s Counter-Piracy Mission Shows Results After First Year

By NATO

From NATO:  Today marks the first anniversary of NATO ships in the Gulf of Aden to fight piracy. Five NATO ships arrived in the Gulf of Aden on 24th March 2009 as part of NATO’s counter piracy mission, Operation Allied Protector. Their aim was to disrupt and deter the piracy that was rife in the […]

New Atlanticist

Mar 24, 2010

Netanyahu Outdoes Himself

By Don Snow

As anyone who has read this space regularly knows, I am less than an unabashed fan of current Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and will never be mistaken as a supporter of the Likud Party, either the Israeli or American branches. My position has consistently been that Netanyahu and his government abuse American support by […]