Atlantic Council blogs

USA and the ICC: An Unfinished Debate

By Robert Bracknell

 I recently returned from a week in Iraq, where I trained an elite security force unit on human rights and the law of combat operations. Discussions regarding the responsibility of commanders for the acts of their forces migrated to the issue of the United Nations’ International Criminal Court. One Iraqi officer asked me, "If the […]

The Incredible Shrinking Ahmadinejad

By Barbara Slavin

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is now discovering what his predecessors in Islamic Iran’s unique dual system of government all learned to their sorrow: You serve at the pleasure of the supreme leader, and he prefers his presidents weak. In the aftermath of a failed attempt by Ahmadinejad to fire Iran’s intelligence minister last month, Supreme Leader Ali […]

Obama’s Westminster speech highlights NATO and the transatlantic relationship

By Barack Obama, the White House

From Barack Obama, the White House:  We are the allies who landed at Omaha and Gold, who sacrificed side by side to free a continent from the march of tyranny, and help prosperity flourish from the ruins of war.

Time for a NATO-China Council?

By Jorge Benitez

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen recently expressed a desire for NATO and China to develop a deeper relationship, comparable to the NATO-Russia Council.   He observed that NATO has formal relationships with four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. The US, UK, and France are founding members of the Alliance and […]

US-UK Relationship Essential, Not Special

By Julian Lindley-French

President Obama has done Britain and Europe a huge favor. By recasting the ‘special’ relationship as an essential relationship the president has released London from the shackles of an increasingly hollow ‘specialness.’

Update: NATO activities in Libya on May 24

By NATO

U.S. missile defense in Europe “real threat” to Russia – General Staff

By RIA Novosti

NATO’s air war in Libya is “grinding down the regime”

By Eric Schmitt, the New York Times

From Eric Schmitt, the New York Times:  As Tuesday’s heavy airstrikes in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, underscored, NATO is escalating the pace and intensity of attacks on Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces

Internal memo reveals cyber attacks against NATO cause “wide-scale disruption”

By Spiegel

From Spiegel:  An internal NATO memo obtained by SPIEGEL shows just how worried the alliance is about cyber threats and how it plans to confront them "head-on." It also warns members that, if their shared defenses are to be robust and secure, each one needs to bolster their national defenses. NATO is increasing pressure on […]

Update: NATO activities in Libya on May 23

By NATO