Category: Blogs

How Syria Divided the World

By Michael Ignatieff, New York Review of Books

From Michael Ignatieff, New York Review of Books:  Syria is the moment in which the West should see that the world has truly broken into two.

U.S. Special Forces to remain in Afghanistan until at least 2017

By Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics

From Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics:  Alpha’s men will be among the nearly 10,000 special operators in Afghanistan in 2013, preparing for the administration’s 2014 exit of major combat troops.

Top News: SCAF to Keep Civilians Away from Military Matters in Constitution

By Tarek Radwan

The Supreme Council of Armed Forces will dictate all laws in regards to the military in the new constitution, further leaving matters of the military outside of civilian control, according to the outcome of the System of Governance Committee of the Constituent Assembly meeting on Monday. 

Can the Franco-British Strategic Defense Relationship Survive?

By Julian Lindley-French

Can the Franco-British strategic defense relationship survive? Yesterday, at the close of a modest lunch in Downing Street, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he had, “found much common ground” with French President Francois Hollande. Following discussions ranging from the Eurozone debt crisis to Syria and Iran Cameron talked of a “strong relationship” and that […]

Of ‘Honeypots’ and NATO Cybersecurity

By Zachary Fryer-Biggs, Defense News

From Zachary Fryer-Biggs, Defense News:  The new NATO Computer Incident Response Capability (NCIRC) will be designed around a defense scheme that may well include such components as traps for attackers known as honeypots, among other proactive defense tools

NATO: Nation states greater immediate cyber threat than terrorist groups

By Tom Brewster, TechWeekEurope

From Tom Brewster, TechWeekEurope:  Cyber terrorism is not a real threat yet, especially when compared to what nation states can do, according to a NATO official. Ambassador Gábor Iklódy, assistant secretary general for emerging security challenges at NATO, said the “capability to do harm is still mainly with nation states”, rather than with cyber terrorist […]

Russia, Kazakhstan to Combine Air Defense

By RIA Novosti

From RIA Novosti:  Russia hopes to complete talks soon with Kazakhstan on establishing a joint air defense network by 2013, Deputy Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Pavel Kurachenko said on Wednesday.

Taliban commander: we cannot win war and al-Qaida is a ‘plague’

By Julian Borger, the Guardian

From Julian Borger, the Guardian:  One of the Taliban’s most senior commanders has admitted the insurgents cannot win the war in Afghanistan and that capturing Kabul is "a very distant prospect"

Only handful of NATO trucks cross Pakistani border, a week after Afghan supply lines reopened

By the AP

From the AP:  Bureaucratic delays have largely held up shipments to troops in Afghanistan via its eastern neighbor, Pakistani officials said Wednesday, a week after the country reopened U.S. and NATO supply lines.

NATO leaders and partners visit KFOR

By NATO