Atlantic Council blogs

China, Poland Sign Military Cooperation Deal

By AFP

From AFP: NATO member Poland on Wednesday signed a landmark military cooperation deal with China, the Polish defence ministry said. Polish Defence Minister Bogdan Klich inked the “historic” accord in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart, Liang Guanglie, the ministry said in a statement. Under the deal, the two nations pledge to cooperate in areas such […]

Turkey Arrests Three for Spying

By Hurriyet Daily News

From Hurriyet Daily News: Turkish authorities have arrested three men on suspicion of selling military information to Greece. The suspects, all Turkish nationals, were arrested Wednesday in Izmir and Bodrum after being sought by police and the security services for nearly a year, news reports said. Several cameras, telescopes, telephone chips and photos of military […]

Merry Christmas

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Sen. Lugar Urges NATO to Consider Arms for Georgia

By the AP

From the AP: A report by [Senator Richard] Lugar’s staff, released Tuesday, warns that Georgia’s military vulnerability could lead to further instability in the Caucasus amid continuing tensions between Georgia and Russia. It urges the administration to coordinate a strategy within NATO that strikes a balance between Georgia’s security needs and NATO’s relationship with Russia. […]

Secretary General’s Message to NATO and Allied Forces

By NATO

From NATO: As we approach the holiday season and the end of 2009, I should like to express my sincere gratitude to all of you who are deployed on NATO-led missions and operations, and my immense admiration for your professionalism, courage and dedication. You, the armed forces, and the many civilians who support you, are […]

Russia and Georgia to Reopen Border Crossing

By James Joyner

Georgia and Russia have agreed to re-open a key artery closed since 2006, another sign that Moscow would like to repair relations with its former satellite.

Republicans ready to tie Iran sanctions to French-Russian arms deal

By Foreign Policy

From Foreign Policy: The friction between top GOP leaders in Congress and the French government is over the Mistral-class amphibious assault ship, which the French are considering selling to the Russian Federation. As the biggest potential arms sale from a NATO country to Russia, U.S. lawmakers are worried this could set off a chain reaction […]

Surreal Pakistan

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

In a satirical piece on Pakistan’s “New Media Dictionary,” Nadeem Paracha described “Conspiracy Theory” as “A theory that is not a theory at all but a hard fact on Pakistan’s TV channels,” where anything goes and where 90 percent of Pakistanis get their news.

Pakistani Thermidor?

By Harlan Ullman

Winston Churchill characterized Soviet Russia in terms of riddles and enigmas. Pakistan today can be characterized as seemingly implacable contradictions and collisions between immovable objects and immutable forces — potentially creating the “mother of all quagmires.”

Iranian Westernization a Western Pipe Dream

By Don Snow

The ability of Americans to believe that Iran secretly wants to be just like us but is repressed by unrepresentative political candidates never ceases to amaze me. The dynamic is at work once again surrounding the funueral of “dissident” Grand Ayatollah Mir Hussein Montazeri.