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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

Nov 19, 2009

Rompuy and Ashton: Compromise Candidates Win

By James Joyner

After months of speculation as to who would be Europe’s first president, the EU’s top leaders emerged from their smoke-filled room and announced that Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy was their man.  And that trade commissioner Catherine Ashton was their woman, tabbed to head up the Commission’s foreign policy.

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Nov 19, 2009

Iran Problems Go Beyond Nukes

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

“It will be just like Syria,” said the strategic scholar just back from Israel and speculating about the much-debated question of whether Israel will eventually bomb Iran’s nuclear installations.

Iran

NATOSource

Nov 19, 2009

Post-Crisis Defence Spending in the EU is Lower and Less Effective Than in the US

By the NATO Parliamentary Assembly

From the NATO Parliamentary Assembly: Defence budgets worldwide have taken a knock as a consequence of the global financial crisis. But as the world’s economies start to show signs of recovery, a “big disparity” is emerging between the EU and North America. This may place a strain on the North Atlantic Alliance, according to Senior […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Nov 18, 2009

Taliban Targets Pashtun Expats

By Luv Puri

On a Saturday morning, 38-year-old Khalid Khattak is packing his luggage to move to Virginia in a last-ditch attempt to land a job appropriate to his skill set. A few months ago, Khattak was working as a recruiter in the human resource department of a large company and earning a decent salary. His wages covered […]

Pakistan

NATOSource

Nov 18, 2009

Training of Afghan Police by Europe Is Found Lacking

By the New York Times

From the New York Times: Two and a half years after it was started, the European Union’s police training mission in Afghanistan is understaffed, lacks adequate security and transportation, and has yet to develop a uniform training program, according to diplomats and security experts involved in the mission. “The E.U. mission is a logistical nightmare,” […]

European Union International Organizations

NATOSource

Nov 18, 2009

Slovakia to add 250 NATO troops to Afghan mission

By the AP

From the AP: Slovakia pledged about 250 extra soldiers Tuesday to the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, the first of what British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said would be a series of international reinforcements. The central European country will double the size of its 246-strong contingent in Afghanistan, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said in a […]

United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Nov 18, 2009

Europe’s President Selected, Not Elected

By James Joyner

Tomorrow night, the European Union will have its first-ever president.  Time’s Leo Cendrowicz reports that few Europeans much care, perhaps because they have no voice in the selection.

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Nov 18, 2009

Testing Obama’s Predicament in AfPak

By Harlan Ullman

After eight years of war and huge expenditures of national treasure, is the United States really serious about succeeding in Afghanistan and Pakistan?

Afghanistan Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Nov 17, 2009

Learning From Germany

By Dave Schuler

I agree with Paul Krugman that we can learn something from Germany:

Germany

New Atlanticist

Nov 17, 2009

Obama Disappoints Europe Ahead of Copenhagen

By James Joyner

“Obama Has Failed the World on Climate Change,” blares a Spiegel op-ed by Christian Schwägerl.  The essay is another data point in the growing notion that the new American president’s aura is fading on the other side of the Atlantic.