Category: Blogs

U.S. Risks World-Leader Role

By Chuck Hagel

As the symbols of our nation’s economic and military strength (or prowess) came under attack 10 years ago today, my first thought: “This is the second Pearl Harbor.” As I told a reporter that day, “I don’t think I’m overstating it.”

Why Ten Years On Britain is Less Secure

By Julian Lindley-French

It has been a bruising decade for Britain. If on 10 September, 2001 an analyst had suggested that within months British forces would be fighting on the ground in Afghanistan, let alone in Iraq less than two years later credentials would have been questioned. 911 quite simply changed all the planning assumptions upon which British […]

Britain Balks at E.U. Defense Plan

By Stephen Castle, the International Herald Tribune

From Stephen Castle, the International Herald Tribune:  In addition to the European Union’s single currency and its passport-free travel zone, Britain now faces a new and unwelcome test of its engagement with Continental partners, this time over defense.

Update: NATO activities in Libya on September 12

By NATO

NATO Heads Toward the Nursing Home

By Elizabeth Pond, World Policy Journal

From Elizabeth Pond, World Policy Journal:  NATO won’t be dismantled. Instead, it will move to an old people’s home.

Being NATO’s Secretary General on 9/11

By Lord Robertson

Being NATO Secretary General is always a job fraught with challenges and surprises. But on 11 September, 2001, Lord Robertson had one of the most extraordinary experiences of any NATO Secretary General. Here, he recounts how the day panned out. At NATO Headquarters in Brussels, it was just an ordinary Tuesday. One which was to […]

9/11 Ten Years After

By Ioan Mircea Pascu

10 years after 9/11 at the current rapid pace of time are enough to permit a general evaluation of its consequences and, therefore, significance. Of course, the question: “what would have been the US foreign policy without 9/11?” will always remain … Personally, in retrospect, I am of the opinion that the US reaction, particularly […]

Update: NATO activities in Libya on September 11

By NATO

U.S. considering Ankara’s request to base Predators in Turkey

By Craig Whitlock, the Washington Post

From Craig Whitlock, the Washington Post:  The Obama administration is considering a request from Turkey to base a fleet of Predator drones on Turkish soil for counterterrorism operations in northern Iraq, a decision that could strengthen a diplomatic alliance but drag the United States deeper into a regional conflict.