Category: NATOSource

Bitter Turkey marks 50 years at Europe’s door

By Agence France Presse

From Agence France Presse: Turkey on Friday bitterly marked 50 years since its first application to integrate formally with Europe, a date overshadowed by its troubled EU accession talks. “We remember this anniversary but it’s not a cause for celebration,” Turkey’s chief negotiator with the EU, Egemen Bagis, said in a statement. “Our country has […]

Russia-Ukraine Diplomatic War

By the Jamestown Foundation

From the Jamestown Foundation: Tension in the Crimea is at its highest since Ukraine faced the separatist challenge in the mid-1990’s. Externally, Russia has launched a widespread ideological campaign against Ukraine (and Georgia) that has made the former the third most disliked country in Russia. This tension in the Crimea is largely ignored by the […]

Obama administration says Russia could join NATO

By the Associated Press

From the Associated Press: The Obama administration is not ruling out the possibility of Russian membership in NATO. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon told U.S. lawmakers Tuesday that the United States would consider Russian membership in the military alliance that was founded to protect Europe from Soviet aggression. Gordon said NATO should be open […]

Russia expels Ukraine diplomat in tit-for-tat move

By Reuters

From Reuters: Russia on Wednesday ordered a Ukrainian diplomat to leave the country in what it said was retaliation for Kiev’s expulsion last week of a Russian diplomat responsible for the Black Sea Fleet.

Appointment of General Stéphane Abrial to the post of Supreme Allied Commander Transformation

By NATO

From NATO: NATO today announced the appointment of General Stéphane Abrial to the post of Supreme Allied Commander Transformation. General Abrial is currently Chief of Staff of the French Air Force. He will take up his new duties on 9 September 2009 at a change of command ceremony to be held at Headquarters Supreme Allied […]

NATOSource: NATO Releases New Videos

As part of a media campaign to celebrate 2009 as the 60th anniversary of the alliance, NATO has released new videos designed to promote public understanding of its value to its member states. These videos and additional information can be viewed at, 60 Years NATO. Atlantic-Community.org is sponsoring a discussion of the videos and public […]

U.S.-Ukraine “Tough Love:” the Feeling is Mutual

By the Jamestown Foundation

From the Jamestown Foundation: Support for closer relations with NATO has become an internal political liability in Ukraine. Among the potential candidates in the January 2010 presidential election, Yushchenko -with a popularity rating in the low single-digits- no longer has anything to lose; Tymoshenko has everything at stake; Yanukovych and his party are on record […]

Soon, Only U.S. Will Remain of Iraq Coalition

By the New York Times

From the New York Times: Two days from now, there will no longer be any other nations with troops in Iraq — no “multi” in the Multi-National Force. As Iraqi forces have increasingly taken the lead, the United States is the last of the “coalition of the willing” that the Bush administration first brought together […]

Priorities for Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO’s New Secretary General

By Heritage

From Heritage: Rasmussen’s experience working at the heart of the European Union gives him an inside edge on how best to reshape NATO-EU relations. The reintegration of France into NATO’s military command structures, coupled with the Obama Administration’s inclination toward a deeply integrated European Union (EU), threatens to hand over the primacy of NATO in […]

General Stoltz — First French general to lead Joint Command Lisbon

By NATO

From NATO: The change of command marks the first time that a French General assumes command of a NATO headquarters since France announced its return to NATO’s military command structure earlier this year . . . Joint Command Lisbon is, along with its sister headquarters in Naples and Brunssum, one of three NATO’s operational level […]