Atlantic Council blogs

Transatlantic Clash at G20?

By James Joyner

Stuart Eizenstadt and Caio Koch-Weser correctly argue that it’s time for "a renaissance of joint economic and political leadership by the U.S. and the EU and its members" at tomorrow’s G20 Summit.   We won’t, however, be getting it.

In Europe, U.S. Allies Target Defense Budgets

By Stephen Fidler, Alistair MacDonald, and Patrick McGroarty, the Wall Street Journal

Obama’s Fuzzy Deadline: No to “switching off the lights,” Yes to “begin a transition phase”

By Barack Obama, the White House

From Barack Obama, the White House:  Our mission, first and foremost, is to dismantle and destroy al Qaeda and its affiliates so that they can’t attack the United States.  The reason we’re there in the first place is because 3,000 Americans were killed from an attack launched in that region.

The Afghanistan Clock

By James Dobbins, Foreign Policy

From James Dobbins, Foreign Policy:  President Obama has now swapped one distinguished general for another. But he urgently needs to address the underlying issue dividing his administration: Is July 2011 a real deadline for U.S. troops to begin withdrawing, or just a clever domestic political ploy?

Petraeus’ Afghanistan Reality

By Shuja Nawaz

President Obama’s decision to replace General Stanley McChrystal with Centcom commander General David Petraeus has unleashed a tidal wave of commentary, with expectations that the second coming of Petraeus will yield results in Afghanistan that perhaps were unattainable before. Nothing could be further from reality. Indeed, the underlying situation in Afghanistan and — don’t forget […]

Poland sets 2012 Afghanistan pull-out deadline

By Reuters

From Reuters: Poland urged its NATO allies on Thursday to draft a new strategy for leaving Afghanistan and said it would bring its own troops home by 2012 regardless of what other countries decided. Acting President Bronislaw Komorowski, who is the frontrunner in a presidential election due on July 4, said Warsaw would try to […]

Desperate Times Mean Desperate Measures in Europe

By Scott Bleiweis

The financial crisis continues to wreak havoc in Europe. Beyond Greece, we’ve been told Spain is especially at risk. But even more established market economies have taken steps towards cutting debt and providing relief to struggling citizens.

Time for Transatlantic Leadership

By Stuart Eizenstat and Caio Koch-Weser

Saturday the leaders of the G20 will convene for a pivotal meeting on the future of global economic policy and financial market reform. Their first gathering in 2008 set a strong and encouraging tone of greater international cooperation. Less than two years on, this important spirit is getting lost.

Russia-Belarus “Gas War” is Over

By Reuters

From Reuters:  Russia resumed gas supplies to Belarus on Thursday and paid gas transit debts to Minsk in a move to ease fears of supply cuts to the European Union, which has called the dispute an attack on the entire bloc. Belarus said it had yet to receive the payments for transit but was ready […]

White House: Georgia’s security has improved due to the Russian reset

By Josh Rogin, Foreign Policy