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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

May 11, 2009

Pakistan: Too Big To Fail

By Jonathan Paris

Hardly a day goes by without reports highlighting Pakistan’s mounting instability or the growing strength of the Taliban inside its troubled borders. From the media and high-profile observers alike, doomsday scenarios abound. U.S. army general David Petraeus has called the Taliban an “existential threat” to the Pakistani state. His adviser on counterinsurgency in Iraq, David […]

Pakistan

New Atlanticist

May 11, 2009

Moving Forward on Climate Change Policy

By Rachel Fleishman

It used to be that nothing in life was certain except death and taxes. Then came climate change. The news on the climate has gone from bad to alarmingly urgent. The atmosphere is warming faster than previously thought. The obvious culprit is economic development – our particular path to prosperity has been paved with carbon.

New Atlanticist

May 11, 2009

Europe Betrays Its Mission in Prague

By Borut Grgic

The much-anticipated Prague Summit between the European Union and our eastern partners was a flop. The eastern partnership declaration published last Thursday is not worth the paper it was printed on.

European Union International Organizations

NATOSource

May 9, 2009

MoD Official Charged with Disclosure of State Secret

By Civil Georgia

From Civil Georgia: Irakli Batkuashvili, who has served as head of combat training directorate at the Georgian Ministry of Defense, has been charged with disclosure of state secret.Batkuashvili, who was head of defense planning directorate, J-5, at MoD during the August war, was arrested on May 6.Both the investigators and a defense lawyer have declined […]

NATOSource

May 9, 2009

Russia warns foes in Soviet-style show of might

By AFP

From AFP: Russia on Saturday sternly warned its foes not to dare attempt any aggression against the country, as it put on a Soviet-style show of military might in Red Square including nuclear capable missiles. The display to mark the 64th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II came amid […]

New Atlanticist

May 9, 2009

Azerbaijan the Energy Partner Europe Needs Most

By Borut Grgic

Yesterday’s meeting in Prague on the ‘Southern Corridor’ – the pipelines that will bring gas and oil to Europe – produced a decent result, though still missing are agreements on a transit regime with Turkey and on the volumes to be sold on the European market. The key lies in Azerbaijan.

New Atlanticist

May 9, 2009

Australia Prepares for U.S. Decline

By James Joyner

The release a week ago of an Australian defense plan calling for a substantial upgrade in forces based on the assumption that the United States will be reducing its commitments to the Asia-Pacific region has slowly gotten the attention of the foreign policy commentariat.

New Atlanticist

May 9, 2009

Ireland Bans Soccer for Chad Combat Troops

By James Joyner

Ireland’s defense minister has ordered that soldiers assigned to combat duty in Chad refrain from playing contact sports, including soccer and volleyball, lest they injure themselves on the hard dirt. Sadly, this is not a satire from The Onion.

European Union International Organizations
STOCK - China

New Atlanticist

May 9, 2009

US-China Naval Coordination Urgently Needed

By Damien Tomkins

An encounter between the  USNS Victorious and Chinese trawlers in the Yellow Sea marks the fifth such incident within two months, China Post reports. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman asserted that “a couple of Chinese fishing vessels maneuvered close to the Victorious in what was an unsafe manner.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ma Zhaoxu countered, “The […]

NATOSource

May 9, 2009

FACTBOX: NATO military exercises in Georgia

By Reuters

From Reuters: NATO is holding two different exercises in Georgia between May 6 and June 1.The first exercise is named Cooperative Longbow 09 and aims to improve coordination between brigade commanders with procedure, coordination and command systems. It was scheduled to involve around 220 soldiers and does not involve tanks. The second exercise is named […]