Category: Blogs

Turkey’s Choice

By Katinka Barysch, the International Herald Tribune

From Katinka Barysch, the International Herald Tribune:  Polls have left little doubt that the AKP will win its third consecutive election in June as voters reward Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for presiding over years of economic growth

Robert Gates: Congressional moves on Libya “dangerous”

By Mike Allen, POLITICO

From Mike Allen, POLITICO:  Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, issued a statement saying: “Secretary Gates believes that for the United States, once committed to a NATO operation, to unilaterally abandon that mission would have enormous and dangerous long-term consequences.

House vote today on rival Libya resolutions

By John Bresnahan and Jake Sherman, POLITICO

From John Bresnahan and Jake Sherman, POLITICO:  House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has introduced a resolution on Libya that bars the use of any American ground troops in the North African nation

Atlantic Update 06/03/11

By HuiHui Ooi

Europe continues to battle E.Coli and Russia’s ban on EU vegetable imports. Mladic denies charges. After the Fukushima tragedy in Japan, Germany is giving up on its nuclear power plants by 2012 whereas Greece is at a 50:50 risk of defaulting according to Moody’s and recommended for another set of bailout package.

China Undercuts Sanctions on Iran

By Barbara Slavin

Since the failure of a brief effort at engaging Iran, the Obama administration has pivoted to economic pressure, piling sanction after sanction on the Islamic Republic to try to persuade it to curb a program that could give it the capacity to make nuclear weapons. Last week, the U.S. penalized seven foreign companies for selling […]

Update: NATO activities in Libya on June 1

By NATO

US official: “I keep having to tell Europeans that things are not so bad”

By Charlemagne, the Economist

From Charlemagne, the Economist:  Mr Obama’s tour comes when the two sides of the Atlantic are contending with the effects of the most acute economic crisis in eight decades.

Shining Citadel Redux

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

In Jan. 1981, when Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the 40th U.S. president, he declared the federal budget to be out of control. The deficit had reached $74 billion, and the federal debt was at $930 billion. Mr. Reagan said a stack of $1,000 bills equivalent to what Uncle Sam owed would be 67 […]

NATO report discuses countermeasures against cyber hacktivists

By Lord Joplin, NATO Parliamentary Assembly

From Lord Joplin, NATO Parliamentary Assembly:  [As a result of the information revolution], the time it takes to cross the Atlantic has shrunk to 30 milliseconds, compared with 30 minutes for ICBMs and several months going by boat.

Netanyahu, U.S. Interests, and the Peace Process

By Hugh De Santis

Only a fool could believe that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, whatever he says to the contrary, has any interest in reviving the all-but-dead peace talks with the Palestinians. His persisting intractability, amply on display in his May 20 press conference with President Barack Obama and in his unctuous speech to the Congress four days later, […]