Category: Blogs

How Much Europe are the Dutch (and Others) Willing to Pay For

By Julian Lindley-French

Here in the Netherlands the government fell ostensibly over the need for further cuts in public spending to meet Eurozone debt limits. However, lurking in the Dutch political shadows is a much more existential question; how much I as a Dutch taxpayer should pay to keep Spain and the other indebted Eurozone countries afloat?

Top News: Netanyahu Calls Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula a “Wild West”

By Mara Revkin

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyau said that Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula has turned into a "kind of Wild West" exploited by Islamist militants with Iranian help to smuggle in weapons and stage attacks on Israel.

NATO Members Spar over Post-Withdrawal Financing for Afghanistan

By Spiegel

From Spiegel:  After the almost total withdrawal of ISAF troops at the end of 2014, according to the strategy, NATO members don’t want to leave the country entirely to its own fate.

Nuclear Weapon Reductions Must be Part of Strategic Analysis

By Henry Kissinger and Brent Scowcroft

A New START treaty reestablishing the process of nuclear arms control has recently taken effect. Combined with reductions in the U.S. defense budget, this will bring the number of nuclear weapons in the United States to the lowest overall level since the 1950s. The Obama administration is said to be considering negotiations for a new […]

Turkey blocking Israel’s participation in NATO summit

By Celil Sagir, Zaman

Reports cast doubt on European missile defense

By Desmond Butler, AP

From Desmond Butler, AP:  Major delays, cost overruns and critical technological problems are plaguing a missile defense system designed to protect the United States and Europe from an Iranian attack

U.S. seeks more money from Germany for Afghanistan

By Spiegel

From Spiegel:  Currently, the Western allies are deadlocked in the search for sufficient post-withdrawal funding for Afghanistan. The US has committed to covering half of the €3.1 billion ($4 billion) per year necessary to equip and train Afghan security forces.

Egypt’s Fuel Subsidies: Too Costly to Bear

By Maye Ehab

In the last couple of months, Egyptians have suffered from a malfunctioning fuel subsidy system that is badly in need of reform. Cars have been lined up to fill their tanks at gas stations. At warehouses, queues were too long to buy gas cylinders. The low subsidized price of the petroleum products and gas cylinders […]

Top News: Egypt Denies Permits to 8 American NGOs including Carter Center

By Mara Revkin

The Ministry of Social Affairs denied the requests of eight American NGOs seeking permission to operate in Egypt. One of the NGOs is the Carter Center, which was seeking to deploy observers to monitor the presidential election.