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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

Jul 8, 2009

Are you Passionate about Afghanistan?

By Kenneth Payne

No? That could be a problem. Yesterday, Richard Holmes wrote this in his tribute to Lt Col Rupert Thorneloe, the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards commanding officer who was killed in Afghanistan on July 1:

Afghanistan United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Jul 8, 2009

Germany’s Iron Cross a New Symbol of Hope?

By Nicholas Siegel

On Monday, for the first time since 1945, German soldiers were awarded the Iron Cross for bravery on the field of battle.  The ancient Teutonic symbol, which dates back to the Crusades and was first awarded as a military medal in 1813, was pinned onto the chests of four German servicemen who dragged wounded comrades […]

Germany

New Atlanticist

Jul 8, 2009

New NATO Concept a Chance for Europe to Recommit to Alliance

By Jan Techau

Yesterday, NATO officially kicked off the process of drafting a new strategic concept for history’s most enduring military alliance. Officials, soldiers, think tankers, and strategists from all 28 member states convened in Brussels to ponder ideas on how to make the Atlantic Alliance fit for its seventh decade in business.

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jul 8, 2009

NATO: Relic or Revitalized?

By Harlan Ullman

Yesterday in Brussels, NATO kicked off a yearlong process to draft a new strategic concept. The last strategic concept was adopted a decade ago at the Washington Summit marking the alliance’s 50th anniversary, when NATO was at war in what turned out to be a 78-day bombing campaign to stop Serbia and its autocratic leader […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jul 7, 2009

Obama and Medvedev (Re)set Arms Limits

By Andrew Kessinger

Yesterday’s highly anticipated meeting between Presidents Obama and Medvedev, while hardly the so-called “reset” moment in U.S.-Russian relations, does shift the tone.

Russia United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Jul 7, 2009

Russia Summit Achieves Little, As Expected

By James Joyner

Naval War College professor Nick Gvosdev, a contributing editor at the Atlantic Council, argued in advance of the trip that “Despite all the promises about a ‘reset’ in the U.S.-Russia relationship, the Obama administration still seems to be following a script crafted by its predecessor” but predicted that the visit would be “symbolically triumphal.”  He […]

Russia

New Atlanticist

Jul 7, 2009

Honduras Coup and America’s Democracy Policy

By Bernard Finel

Latin America watchers have been transfixed over the past week with developments in Honduras.  At first glance, the issue is simple: a group of armed thugs overthrew a democratic regime.  This sort of military coup — which echoes the regimes of cliched colonels in sunglasses — was thought to have been relegated to the Latin […]

Latin America

New Atlanticist

Jul 7, 2009

Iran: Pursuing the Apocalypse

By Rafael Bardaji

The Islamic Republic of Iran has sealed its fate with the ruthless repression of its opponents, shelving the vote fraud, and granting legitimacy to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s second term in office. And if we do not do anything against this development, we will have sealed our fate, too.

Iran

New Atlanticist

Jul 7, 2009

Time to Shoot Down Missile Defense

By Don Snow

President Obama is in Moscow meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, with the shadow Vladimir Putin not far from their sight. The highlight of the talks, which are aimed at improving relations with Russia typically soured by the Bush administration, center on nuclear arms agreements, which were at the heart of Cold War negotiations and […]

Missile Defense Security & Defense

NATOSource

Jul 6, 2009

Ex-top US diplomat Albright to aid NATO strategy rethink

By AFP

From AFP: Former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright will be part of a group of experts charged with re-thinking the future direction of NATO, an official at the military alliance said Monday. Former British defence seretary Geoff Hoon will also be among around a dozen experts laying the foundations of NATO’s new “strategic concept,” […]

United Kingdom United States and Canada