Category: Blogs

Medvedev: Agreement on European missile shield may not occur until 2020

By RIA Novosti

From RIA Novosti:  Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that it could take Russia and the United States until 2020 to reach agreement on a European missile shield, but the two sides must create the foundations for a deal now. "This issue will be solved in the future, maybe in 2020, but we should […]

Update: NATO activities in Libya on May 25

By NATO

Ratko Mladic Arrest Paves Way for Serbia EU Accession

By James Joyner

Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general blamed for the massacre of 8,000 Muslims at Srebrenica, has been caught after 16 years on the run from a UN war crimes indictment. Serbian President Boris Tadic announced the arrest this morning, proclaiming "All war criminals must face justice" and promising speedy extradition to The Hague for […]

Resetting the Transatlantic Partnership

By James Joyner

 While President Obama has had some amusing gaffes on his trip to London, including getting the year wrong in the guest book and an awkward toast to the Queen, his speech to Parliament  hit all the right notes. He began with some humor: I am told that the last three speakers here have been the Pope, Her […]

Are US caveats in Libya operation prolonging the conflict?

By the Editors of the Washington Post

From the Editors of the Washington Post:  Each time he addresses the war in Libya, President Obama seems to contradict himself.

Obama’s Libya policy challenged as violation of War Powers Act

By Charlie Savage, the New York Times

From Charlie Savage, the New York Times:  At a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, several members attacked Mr. Obama for failing to withdraw United States military forces from conflict after the expiration of a 60-day deadline

Sarkozy and Medvedev “reached a definitive agreement” on Mistral purchase

By Reuters

From Reuters:  Russia and France have reached a long-awaited agreement on a Russian purchase of four Mistral class helicopter carriers made by a French-led consortium, the two countries’ presidents said on Thursday. The deal, Moscow’s first major foreign arms purchase since the fall of the Soviet Union, is driven by its need to modernise its […]

USA and the ICC: An Unfinished Debate

By Robert Bracknell

 I recently returned from a week in Iraq, where I trained an elite security force unit on human rights and the law of combat operations. Discussions regarding the responsibility of commanders for the acts of their forces migrated to the issue of the United Nations’ International Criminal Court. One Iraqi officer asked me, "If the […]

The Incredible Shrinking Ahmadinejad

By Barbara Slavin

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is now discovering what his predecessors in Islamic Iran’s unique dual system of government all learned to their sorrow: You serve at the pleasure of the supreme leader, and he prefers his presidents weak. In the aftermath of a failed attempt by Ahmadinejad to fire Iran’s intelligence minister last month, Supreme Leader Ali […]

Obama’s Westminster speech highlights NATO and the transatlantic relationship

By Barack Obama, the White House

From Barack Obama, the White House:  We are the allies who landed at Omaha and Gold, who sacrificed side by side to free a continent from the march of tyranny, and help prosperity flourish from the ruins of war.