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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

Mar 29, 2013

The Measured Madness of North Korea

By Rajan Menon

You’ve got to hand it to North Korea’s young leader Kim Jong-un: the man is a past master at panic promotion. He learned from the master, his dad, Kim “Dear Leader” Jong-il, whose tantrums, threats, and theatrics routinely rattled South Korea, Japan, and the United States. The reactions that followed were invariably the same: the […]

NATOSource

Mar 29, 2013

Obama ‘proud’ to announce Breedlove as new SACEUR and commander of EUCOM

By Barack Obama, White House

From Barack Obama, White House:  I am proud to announce my intention to nominate General Philip Breedlove as the next Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) and Commander of U.S. European Command.

NATOSource

Mar 29, 2013

Business is booming in the cyber arms trade

By Economist

From Economist:  It is a type of software sometimes described as “absolute power” or “God”. Small wonder its sales are growing.

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

MENASource

Mar 29, 2013

Top News: Al-Azhar Asserts Role, Clashes with Brotherhood

By Egypt Source

  Al-Azhar said on Thursday its clerics must be consulted on a law allowing the state to issue sukuk (Islamic bonds), setting it at odds with the Muslim Brotherhood which drove the legislation through the Shura Council last week. It marks the first time Al-Azhar, a thousand-year-old seat of Islamic learning, has said its Senior […]

MENASource

Mar 29, 2013

The Curious Case of Old Politics in the New Libya

By Karim Mezran

The sudden arrest of prominent Libyan exiles in Egypt and their swift extradition raises questions about the legitimacy of both the Libyan and Egyptian governments’ behavior. The revolts that swept North Africa brought down some of the most brutal and corrupt autocracies of the world. In their wake, one would expect new democratic political systems […]

Libya North Africa

New Atlanticist

Mar 29, 2013

Trans-Adriatic Pipeline Project Surging Ahead of Rival Nabucco-West: Part I

By Vladimir Socor

Among the roles of Gazprom’s South Stream pipeline project was that of aborting the EU-backed Nabucco, merely by threatening to preempt Nabucco’s markets along the same route downstream. Conversely, Nabucco’s European rival Trans-Adriatic Pipeline project (TAP) can abort Nabucco by preempting the gas supply source upstream. Both TAP and the reformatted Nabucco-West depend fully on […]

MENASource

Mar 29, 2013

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood: Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire

By Tarek Radwan

The Muslim Brotherhood is trying to duck legal challenges to its organization by registering itself as a non-governmental organization (NGO), but its efforts will leave the group vulnerable with the same legal framework that threatens the future of civil society in Egypt. Discussions in the Shura Council suggest another Islamist-driven push for legislation that will […]

NATOSource

Mar 28, 2013

NATO deactivates Allied Maritime Command Naples

By NATO

From NATO:  [A]fter over forty years of service to the Alliance, Allied Maritime Command Naples (MC Naples) cased its colors following the transfer of its responsibility  to NATO’s new Maritime Command located in Northwood, United Kingdom.

NATO Security & Defense

NATOSource

Mar 28, 2013

NATO approves nomination of Breedlove to be new SACEUR

By NATO

From NATO:  The North Atlantic Council approved the nomination of General Philip M. Breedlove, United States Air Force, to the post of Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

NATOSource

Mar 28, 2013

Obama selects Air Force general to lead NATO’s military forces

By Department of Defense

From Department of Defense:  Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced today that the President intends to nominate U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip M. Breedlove for appointment to the rank of general and for assignment as supreme allied commander, Europe and commander, U.S. European Command.