Atlantic Council blogs

Should Brits be Miffed by American Comments on BP? The View from Europe

By Scott Bleiweis

Last Friday, I wrote about harsh comments flying across the Atlantic from the United States in the wake of the BP oil spill. Many in the U.K. have taken American frustrations at BP as insulting to the British people and nation.  If anything, this has picked up steam.

Obama tells Cameron BP criticism is not anti-British

By Deutsche Welle

From Deutsche Welle:  US President Barack Obama assured British Prime Minister David Cameron in a telephone conversation on Saturday that his criticism of BP’s handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is not about national identity. US President Barack Obama told British Prime Minister David Cameron on Saturday that his frustration over […]

Pakistan: Friend or Foe?

By James Joyner

One longstanding question is which side the Pakistan military — particularly the ISI — is on in our war with the Taliban.   A new report gives strong credence to the long-held suspicion that they are not only tacitly backing the enemy but actively supporting them "as clear as the sun in the sky." Jeremy Page […]

NATO a Permanent Alliance: Surviving the Bush Years

By Stanley Sloan

On the other side of the pond, the unilateralist character of US foreign and defense policy under George W. Bush led some Europeans to favor using integration in the European Union to “balance” US power in the international system. This multi-polar temptation, like the US unilateral temptation, threatened trans-Atlantic cooperation and therefore international stability. The […]

Polish PM says to press allies to end Afghan mission

By Reuters

Afghanistan Mineral Riches: Beware the Hype

By James Joyner

News that "United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself" should be taken with several doses of salt. James Risen of the NYT broke the story, which has the security […]

Russia sends in troops as slaughter leaves Kyrgyzstan on the brink of collapse

By Tony Halpin, the Times (London)

Kyrgyzstan Requested U.S. Military Aid and Rubber Bullets but was Turned Down

By Steve LeVine, Foreign Policy

From Steve LeVine, Foreign Policy:  Before Kyrgyzstan turned to Russia, it informally asked Washington for military assistance including a supply of rubber bullets to quell ethnic bloodletting in the south of the country, but was turned down, I am told by people privy to the situation.

Polish General Appointed Top NATO Post

By Polskie Radio

From Polskie Radio: Lt General Mieczyslaw Bieniek is to be deputy commander at NATO headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, US – the highest position a Pole has attained within the Atlantic alliance. Defence Minister Bogdan Klich, refused to confirm the position simply however, saying a decision will be made "soon." The PAP news agency reports that initially, Gen. […]

A Casualty of Reset Relations

By Owen Matthews, Newsweek